Team Overview:
For this month's build I knew I wanted to create a team around one of the many wacky Z moves that natdex has to choose from. As nice as that was for a starting point, it still left me with seemingly endless options. I knew it had to be something with legitimate competitive potential which did eliminate some of the crazier options, but still left me mostly directionless. That was until I remembered an old white whale of mine from my gen 7 days. Z Parting Shot. An absolutely unbelievable move that not only provides a stat lowering pivot, but also a full heal to whatever you switch in. For the cost of an item slot and a Z move, this combines the classic wish pass into a significantly stronger single turn move. My initial attempts in gen 7 ultimately failed because parting shot had exactly one somewhat practical user: Pangoro, a mon that just did not make the cut for high level viability. That is where to my absolute delight, gen 9 comes to the rescue as Gamefreak has blessed us with a strong parting shot Pokémon to fix the situation: Pecharunt!
Pecharunt is already a pokemon with fringe viability in the tier and lends itself to an archetype that has traditionally greatly appreciated the value of a wishpass, the perfect fit for this tech, Hazard Stack. The singular use nature of the Z crystal would normally be restrictive on such a team looking to play the long game but thankfully Gen 9 once again provides us with the perfect answer, Hisuian Samurott. This mon allows for a far more aggressive spike stack structure and lets mons that typically could not weather the stack game plan have a spot to shine. Pair these two up with a core that consistently maintains momentum, throws out knock offs like candy on Halloween, and repeatedly forces impossible decisions and constant switches and you have a freight train of a team that steamrolls over all but the steeliest of players.
This pressure is what enables the true strength of Z Parting Shot, a move that allows any suitably bulky mon to be a breaking threat for itself. There are more than a few pokemon in natdex that cannot repeatedly be switched into by most teams. As such they rely on soft checks or repeated chip throughout the game to answer them. Well what happens against these already pressured teams when such a mon gets to weaken its checks and then come back in later on with full health, hazard support and facing an offensively limited opponent?
It wins.
The Teambuilding Method:
In my journey to learn high level team building I’ve committed to a method that ensures each idea gets the exploration and testing it deserves. I start with a rough concept of a team, typically the core members with unoptimized movesets, spreads and supporting cast. I then create a new alt and ladder for 100 games, making any changes deemed necessary and honing the team over the course of those games until it emerges on the other side polished and prepared against the metagame. The win loss ratio and final Elo of each team will be recorded and compared against each other in order to both gauge the success of the individual team and also my skill and journey as a teambuilder. I believe that as these threads continue the progress in my building will be seen by how quickly the final form will be achieved. It is my goal to become one of the top team builders in this tier. In order to pursue that I will be repeating this teambuilding process with a new team concept every month next year. Be on the lookout for these threads at the end of each month to see how I get along.
I do not intend to compete myself, however I would love to make teams for competitors one day. Please let me know if you have any team idea suggestions or would like more info on any of the teams I have put together. I also greatly welcome any feedback on the teams and my process, the only way to get better is through practice and criticism and I invite both.
This Teams Journey and Results:
It might be a bit early to claim this given that it is only the second team I have built for this challenge, but I feel somewhat comfortable saying that this is going to be among the hardest builds I will face. This team went through an unbelievable number of revisions in the creation process. I tried enough pokemon to create my own damn smogon tier, and despite all of it, nothing was working. No matter what changes I seemed to make, no matter which Mon I figured was finally the answer, I could not for the life of me break through the 1600 barrier. The initial brew for this team was to run a bunch of bulky setup sweepers and bring them back up to full health once they had been chipped down and forced out, taking advantage of the regular parting shot effect to grab another setup opportunity. In this direction, I failed to recognize two crucial things. Setup sweepers with boosts do not want to switch out and Z Parting shot can only hit one target a game. Sweepers tend to be very feast or famine, either not gaining enough momentum to get started in the first place or just winning right there on the spot, rendering Pecharunt’s item entirely useless in many scenarios. Secondly, in situations where the entire team did get worn down, I was only able to heal up a singular option and as such every other pokemon built around receiving the heal was completely out of luck and an unnecessary strain on the team.
With this in mind I then pivoted to a more traditional offensive structure, hoping that through good offensive synergy I could weaken teams and pull out Z parting shot as a trump card once I had identified what threat was best into my opponent's late game. I saw some success with Trailblaze Urshifu + Mega Lopunny fight spam, but nothing consistent. It was certainly not the right build to utilize the power of this move which I was now fully convinced of. It was at this point that I just started throwing things at the wall. Maybe the team needed more bulk, could Zamazenta be my answer? No, too inconsistent, if it was walled it was walled, bringing it back to full health did not help. Maybe the issue was with my stealth rock setter, Gliscor could work. Except it didn't. Not threatening enough and not worth hitting with Parting shot. Booster Valiant? Stole games but not good synergy with the team. I was at a complete and utter loss. Was I wrong about parting shots potential? About Pecharunts potential? No, there was something here. I could feel it, but with no other directions to look in, I decided it was time to reevaluate the three things I had viewed as utterly fundamental to the team. Archetype, Setup and Kingambit.
Starting with Archetype, I decided that instead of trying to fit ZPecharunt into a mold that I was struggling to work within. I would instead look at the mold normal Pecharunt works in and build a Z flavoured team around it. I decided to shift this team from a regular offense into a hazard stack offense. From there I removed the last remnant of the old setup direction as Ogerpon now made much more sense as a knock off pivot than a SD sweeper. Finally I took a look at the only non Pecharunt member of the team that I viewed as immovable. Kingambit. It was easily the best receptor of ZShot that I had played with, but it just wasn't as immediately threatening as I wanted it to be. Yes I know how insane that statement is but getting it in wasn't often enough to threaten to claim a mon then and there. That is the level of value ZShot demands. There was one mon that fit though. Sitting in the recently unbanned pile of shiny toys it called to me like the ring to Frodo. M E L M E T A L.
Finally, the team had a cohesive game plan and a solid structure. And more importantly than that, it was climbing. Melmetal was everything this team could have wished for. A mon that most teams desperately struggle to switch into and one that almost certainly critically weakens whatever does eventually manage to bring it down. The exact traits that ZShot best amplifies. With Hisuian Samurott now providing the dark typing that made Kingambit so valuable and an understanding that teams should be built with only one or two ZShot recipients in mind, Melmetal was the best addition in the entire team building process. The final slots fell into place pretty naturally from there, tusk to provide the coveted offensive synergy that my initial offensive fighting and ground experiments thrived with and Torn to give some speed, ground immunity, special bulk and the most consistent knock off on the team.
And with all this, it wasn't just playable. It was good. Everything clicked, and aside from some outplayable struggles with extremely bulky steels the team just felt right. And at the center of it all, Z Parting shot. Somewhere out there younger me is feeling very smug for his diamond in the rough Z move call.
With this in mind I then pivoted to a more traditional offensive structure, hoping that through good offensive synergy I could weaken teams and pull out Z parting shot as a trump card once I had identified what threat was best into my opponent's late game. I saw some success with Trailblaze Urshifu + Mega Lopunny fight spam, but nothing consistent. It was certainly not the right build to utilize the power of this move which I was now fully convinced of. It was at this point that I just started throwing things at the wall. Maybe the team needed more bulk, could Zamazenta be my answer? No, too inconsistent, if it was walled it was walled, bringing it back to full health did not help. Maybe the issue was with my stealth rock setter, Gliscor could work. Except it didn't. Not threatening enough and not worth hitting with Parting shot. Booster Valiant? Stole games but not good synergy with the team. I was at a complete and utter loss. Was I wrong about parting shots potential? About Pecharunts potential? No, there was something here. I could feel it, but with no other directions to look in, I decided it was time to reevaluate the three things I had viewed as utterly fundamental to the team. Archetype, Setup and Kingambit.
Starting with Archetype, I decided that instead of trying to fit ZPecharunt into a mold that I was struggling to work within. I would instead look at the mold normal Pecharunt works in and build a Z flavoured team around it. I decided to shift this team from a regular offense into a hazard stack offense. From there I removed the last remnant of the old setup direction as Ogerpon now made much more sense as a knock off pivot than a SD sweeper. Finally I took a look at the only non Pecharunt member of the team that I viewed as immovable. Kingambit. It was easily the best receptor of ZShot that I had played with, but it just wasn't as immediately threatening as I wanted it to be. Yes I know how insane that statement is but getting it in wasn't often enough to threaten to claim a mon then and there. That is the level of value ZShot demands. There was one mon that fit though. Sitting in the recently unbanned pile of shiny toys it called to me like the ring to Frodo. M E L M E T A L.
Finally, the team had a cohesive game plan and a solid structure. And more importantly than that, it was climbing. Melmetal was everything this team could have wished for. A mon that most teams desperately struggle to switch into and one that almost certainly critically weakens whatever does eventually manage to bring it down. The exact traits that ZShot best amplifies. With Hisuian Samurott now providing the dark typing that made Kingambit so valuable and an understanding that teams should be built with only one or two ZShot recipients in mind, Melmetal was the best addition in the entire team building process. The final slots fell into place pretty naturally from there, tusk to provide the coveted offensive synergy that my initial offensive fighting and ground experiments thrived with and Torn to give some speed, ground immunity, special bulk and the most consistent knock off on the team.
And with all this, it wasn't just playable. It was good. Everything clicked, and aside from some outplayable struggles with extremely bulky steels the team just felt right. And at the center of it all, Z Parting shot. Somewhere out there younger me is feeling very smug for his diamond in the rough Z move call.
This process made it to a peak of 1766 Elo and had a win/Loss of 75/34
After the change to the finalized six pokemon, this team went 16-4 and climbed from 1500 to 1766
The Squad:
Pecharunt:
Gamblecore (Pecharunt) @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Poison Puppeteer
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Malignant Chain
- Shadow Ball
- Parting Shot
- Recover
Ability: Poison Puppeteer
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Malignant Chain
- Shadow Ball
- Parting Shot
- Recover
The centerpiece of the team and the best Z parting shot user in the tier. This serves as your blanket check to most fighting types as well as go to spin blocker. Its sheer bulk ensures that even strong physical hits have a difficult time breaking through. This allows it to enter the field fairly reliably giving you plenty of opportunities to parting shot out or fish for malignant chain poisons.
Where this mon really shines however, is in its use of the aforementioned Z move. First, by holding a z crystal it means physical threats relying on knock off for dark coverage do not regularly have the base power to actually threaten Pecharunt. Secondly it fully heals one of your pokemon. Yeah that second part might be a bit more important. Z parting shot is a ridiculously powerful move that allows you to transfer the survivability of Pecharunt onto any other mon on this team. It comes without the typical drawbacks of WishPass or Healing wish being neither predictable nor costly and enables bulky offense threats a level of longevity that is frankly backbreaking for opposing teams to manage.
This teams most common recipient is choice band melmetal, a mon who already has a habit of overwhelming its checks but struggles with rocky helmets and upfront chip. I believe that slow bulky nukes such as it or Ursaluna are the best kind of partner for this move as they are typically both in need of health and able to survive a few hits. Melmetal is not the only choice though, Both Ogerpon and Great Tusk appreciate a second wind and a weakened opponent to enter against, and if necessary getting Torn-T to full health without a whole bunch of regenerator pivoting can be super clutch. These can and will win you games so keep them in mind as options, but know that ultimately this team was built to enable melmetal and as such it should be your initial goal and gameplan.
Outside of simply having access to parting shot, Pecharunt does still provide a valuable role to this team however it requires some justification. First of all I likely do not need to tell you how much of a liability having your spin blocker be weak to ground is in this metagame. Tusk and Treads are everywhere, and most teams will be hitting you hard and fast with ground stab. This is a legitimate weakness and not one that should be overlooked. It is something that this team is very aware of in its construction and is why two water types and a repeatedly switchable flying type are run alongside Pecharunt in order to both defensively disincentivize ground spam and offensively threaten its common users. However, this still does not help if you’re faced with a situation in which Pecharunt must switch into Tusk, or even worse, Treads. This is never going to be a good spot to be in; however, should you be able to correctly predict the rapid spin, a healthy Pecharunt is guaranteed to be able to parting shot into one of those many offensive threats to force it out. Through repeated hazard chip and the offensive pressure placed onto them by the rest of this team it is reasonable to only face this situation once, if not outright avoid it entirely in most Paradonphan matchups. In addition, the Donphans find it very difficult to enter in the first place. Offensive Tusk can only realistically enter on a Pecharunt recover/shadow ball, your own Tusk or a prediction that scarf Samurott is going to click ceaseless. Defensive tusk also gains an entrance on Melmetal, but if it is defensive enough to handle Mel it's not offensive enough to break Pecha, negating its threat. Treads faces the same problems but gains an extra entry on Torn. That is if it is able to tank a knock off into a heatwave. I cannot claim that this is ever going to be a strength of the team, but as far as exploitable points go, this is very very mitigatable through awareness and decent play. It is something that in practice rarely actually proved itself to be an issue.
The second big issue to consider with Pecharunt is something very unique to this set, its inability to hold a value generating item. Any Pecharunt that intends to last a long time is greatly advantaged by leftovers, boots or even an air balloon. While the resistance to knock off is a strong point in a Z crystal's favour, you’re not running an item for the sole purpose of negating knock off. This is a real concern, and there were times in the building process where I considered if this was even worth it in the first place. That is why it is essential that you build to take maximum advantage of what Z Parting Shot provides. It is a tremendously valuable choice but only if you hit something tremendously valuable with it. I don't believe this to be widely splashable. This would change if parting shot was given to a more speedy offensive threat with strong dark stab as an alternative z move, but until they give it to Meowscarada next gen this will have to do.
As far as advantages go, Pecharunt has a big one in the fact that its switch-ins are very predictable. Most opponents cannot risk the 50/50 that comes with malignant chain spam and as such you very rarely see anything switch in that isn’t a poison or steel type. This makes it immediately obvious when parting shot should be clicked. Even if you get the prediction wrong you’re still getting an entry point for a threatening pokemon against something that is offensively crippled for the time being. It’s a very easy pokemon to play and one that is hard to challenge outside of its predictable counterplay.
Finally, as for the actual set, Recover and Parting shot are absolute necessities for fairly obvious reasons. Malignant chain is a stupidly broken move and the best stab Pecharunt has. The damage, while not overwhelming, is more than worth it over the guaranteed poision of toxic. Finally that leaves shadow ball. Honestly, if Pecharunt had access to a special dark move it would almost certainly be better in this spot as access to a second type of Z move would be amazing. There is a strong case to be made for foul play for this reason but giving up on malignant chain or special bulk doesn't feel right. Lowering speed may be worthwhile and a mixed set of Recover/Foul Play/Malignant Chain/Parting Shot has potential, though losing the guaranteed outspeed on Gambit is a massive loss. Shadow ball is chosen over hex, as Malignant chain is the only status on the team and once you’ve proced toxic you’re already in a winning state, so the extra damage into unpoisonable mons is preferred.
Where this mon really shines however, is in its use of the aforementioned Z move. First, by holding a z crystal it means physical threats relying on knock off for dark coverage do not regularly have the base power to actually threaten Pecharunt. Secondly it fully heals one of your pokemon. Yeah that second part might be a bit more important. Z parting shot is a ridiculously powerful move that allows you to transfer the survivability of Pecharunt onto any other mon on this team. It comes without the typical drawbacks of WishPass or Healing wish being neither predictable nor costly and enables bulky offense threats a level of longevity that is frankly backbreaking for opposing teams to manage.
This teams most common recipient is choice band melmetal, a mon who already has a habit of overwhelming its checks but struggles with rocky helmets and upfront chip. I believe that slow bulky nukes such as it or Ursaluna are the best kind of partner for this move as they are typically both in need of health and able to survive a few hits. Melmetal is not the only choice though, Both Ogerpon and Great Tusk appreciate a second wind and a weakened opponent to enter against, and if necessary getting Torn-T to full health without a whole bunch of regenerator pivoting can be super clutch. These can and will win you games so keep them in mind as options, but know that ultimately this team was built to enable melmetal and as such it should be your initial goal and gameplan.
Outside of simply having access to parting shot, Pecharunt does still provide a valuable role to this team however it requires some justification. First of all I likely do not need to tell you how much of a liability having your spin blocker be weak to ground is in this metagame. Tusk and Treads are everywhere, and most teams will be hitting you hard and fast with ground stab. This is a legitimate weakness and not one that should be overlooked. It is something that this team is very aware of in its construction and is why two water types and a repeatedly switchable flying type are run alongside Pecharunt in order to both defensively disincentivize ground spam and offensively threaten its common users. However, this still does not help if you’re faced with a situation in which Pecharunt must switch into Tusk, or even worse, Treads. This is never going to be a good spot to be in; however, should you be able to correctly predict the rapid spin, a healthy Pecharunt is guaranteed to be able to parting shot into one of those many offensive threats to force it out. Through repeated hazard chip and the offensive pressure placed onto them by the rest of this team it is reasonable to only face this situation once, if not outright avoid it entirely in most Paradonphan matchups. In addition, the Donphans find it very difficult to enter in the first place. Offensive Tusk can only realistically enter on a Pecharunt recover/shadow ball, your own Tusk or a prediction that scarf Samurott is going to click ceaseless. Defensive tusk also gains an entrance on Melmetal, but if it is defensive enough to handle Mel it's not offensive enough to break Pecha, negating its threat. Treads faces the same problems but gains an extra entry on Torn. That is if it is able to tank a knock off into a heatwave. I cannot claim that this is ever going to be a strength of the team, but as far as exploitable points go, this is very very mitigatable through awareness and decent play. It is something that in practice rarely actually proved itself to be an issue.
The second big issue to consider with Pecharunt is something very unique to this set, its inability to hold a value generating item. Any Pecharunt that intends to last a long time is greatly advantaged by leftovers, boots or even an air balloon. While the resistance to knock off is a strong point in a Z crystal's favour, you’re not running an item for the sole purpose of negating knock off. This is a real concern, and there were times in the building process where I considered if this was even worth it in the first place. That is why it is essential that you build to take maximum advantage of what Z Parting Shot provides. It is a tremendously valuable choice but only if you hit something tremendously valuable with it. I don't believe this to be widely splashable. This would change if parting shot was given to a more speedy offensive threat with strong dark stab as an alternative z move, but until they give it to Meowscarada next gen this will have to do.
As far as advantages go, Pecharunt has a big one in the fact that its switch-ins are very predictable. Most opponents cannot risk the 50/50 that comes with malignant chain spam and as such you very rarely see anything switch in that isn’t a poison or steel type. This makes it immediately obvious when parting shot should be clicked. Even if you get the prediction wrong you’re still getting an entry point for a threatening pokemon against something that is offensively crippled for the time being. It’s a very easy pokemon to play and one that is hard to challenge outside of its predictable counterplay.
Finally, as for the actual set, Recover and Parting shot are absolute necessities for fairly obvious reasons. Malignant chain is a stupidly broken move and the best stab Pecharunt has. The damage, while not overwhelming, is more than worth it over the guaranteed poision of toxic. Finally that leaves shadow ball. Honestly, if Pecharunt had access to a special dark move it would almost certainly be better in this spot as access to a second type of Z move would be amazing. There is a strong case to be made for foul play for this reason but giving up on malignant chain or special bulk doesn't feel right. Lowering speed may be worthwhile and a mixed set of Recover/Foul Play/Malignant Chain/Parting Shot has potential, though losing the guaranteed outspeed on Gambit is a massive loss. Shadow ball is chosen over hex, as Malignant chain is the only status on the team and once you’ve proced toxic you’re already in a winning state, so the extra damage into unpoisonable mons is preferred.
Tornadus Therian:
T-T (Tornadus-Therian) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 244 HP / 48 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Bleakwind Storm
- U-turn
- Heat Wave
- Knock Off
Coming from SV UU this mon has a very conflicted place in my heart. It's so so so good at what it does, but having to rely on inaccurate moves will forever be one of my great frustrations. Regardless, it fits on this team, and damn well too. This was actually the last pokemon added, and in its slot I needed 3 things. A flying type, A flexible special check and speed, preferably one that at least somewhat threatened steel types. Well, there's exactly one pokemon that fit that bill and it just so happened to be one of the most goated knock off users of all time. My boy, for better or for worse, T-T.
Initially I experimented with a taunt boots set which proved fairly successful, but ultimately settled on AV. Due to the team's struggle with bulky steels, I wanted to fit heat wave into the set which was limiting given that knock, u-turn and bleakwind already proved absolutely necessary. That meant taunt had to go, and without the restriction, AV naturally fit better than boots. This worked well as having something with both natural longevity and special walling abilities was exactly what this team needed. I had figured the best way to build with Z parting shot was to have a whole bunch of potential targets, but failed to account for the fact that you can only use it once. This means that any team designed to have multiple targets for the heal is going to struggle when more than one of those pokemon is weakened. Because of this, the team is actually very well served by at least a few pokemon that don't necessarily rely on receiving the heal and can still make meaningful progress while remaining healthy. Tornadus T also functions as one of three offensive pivots, allowing not only entry points for Mel and Pecharunt but strong offensive momentum forcing opponents to either accept bad trades or switch into hazards repeatedly.
This mon is your best option into threats like Ferrothorn, Gholdengo and Ogerpon Wellspring. Switch it in liberally and spam knock off where you can. U-turn out of bad matchups and don't be afraid to trade big damage for an important knock or KO, it will find chances to get that health back. Oh, and if you do end up having to rely on bleakwind storm, good luck and I’m sorry. T-T.
Initially I experimented with a taunt boots set which proved fairly successful, but ultimately settled on AV. Due to the team's struggle with bulky steels, I wanted to fit heat wave into the set which was limiting given that knock, u-turn and bleakwind already proved absolutely necessary. That meant taunt had to go, and without the restriction, AV naturally fit better than boots. This worked well as having something with both natural longevity and special walling abilities was exactly what this team needed. I had figured the best way to build with Z parting shot was to have a whole bunch of potential targets, but failed to account for the fact that you can only use it once. This means that any team designed to have multiple targets for the heal is going to struggle when more than one of those pokemon is weakened. Because of this, the team is actually very well served by at least a few pokemon that don't necessarily rely on receiving the heal and can still make meaningful progress while remaining healthy. Tornadus T also functions as one of three offensive pivots, allowing not only entry points for Mel and Pecharunt but strong offensive momentum forcing opponents to either accept bad trades or switch into hazards repeatedly.
This mon is your best option into threats like Ferrothorn, Gholdengo and Ogerpon Wellspring. Switch it in liberally and spam knock off where you can. U-turn out of bad matchups and don't be afraid to trade big damage for an important knock or KO, it will find chances to get that health back. Oh, and if you do end up having to rely on bleakwind storm, good luck and I’m sorry. T-T.
Great Tusk:
Dumbo Got Hands (Great Tusk) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Protosynthesis
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
Ability: Protosynthesis
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
Do I even need to say anything about Tusk, you know what it does, I know what it does, hell your Grandma probably knows what it does. It’s Great Tusk, you see it every 2 games and it's not doing anything meaningfully novel here. It’s main role is to be one of the greatest hazard control role compression mons ever cooked up by the chefs over at Gamefreak. None of your pokemon run boots and a lot of them want to switch in repeatedly. Tusk helps them by spinning away any pesky rocks looking to get in the way of T-T’s world record attempt at most times swapped in in a 5 minute period. Its strong ground stab provides fantastic offensive synergy with Pecharunt, hard threatening the steels and poisons that eagerly swap into a parting shot. Ice spinner + EQ provides the best two move coverage available to the elephant and knock off is forgone due to having two far superior knockers in Pon and T-T. Speedy defensive is my favourite bulky set and bulk is chosen as without priority living a hit is this teams strongest option for dealing with setup sweepers. All that on top of adding rocks to the hazard pile makes Tusk too solid of a choice not to include.
Melmetal:
Tire Iron (Melmetal) @ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch
- Superpower
The absolute cornerstone of this team and a nigh unwallable threat when equipped with its trusty band. Two things are true about this pokemon when played right. It will get a kill, and it will take 30% doing it. That's what makes it such an incredible pair for z parting shot. Not only does the heal mitigate one of the better strategies for dealing with Melmetal, it also gives it an entry against something with absolutely no shot at offensively threatening it due to the stat drop. Outside of the Pecharunt synergy this forms a disgusting offensive core alongside Ogerpon as Pon threatens the bulky fires and waters that attempt to check Mel, while Mel breaks the general walls that hope to stop Pon on sheer bulk alone. This team also repeatedly grants Melmetal entry points through the four separate pivoting moves and provides hazards and knock off support to handle the few remaining options to stop this behemoth in its tracks. An absolute force of nature and your best threat on a team of best threats.
This is your primary Z parting shot target and in most games what you should be aiming to heal up. Do not be afraid to take big damage on Mel assuming that you’re also dealing big damage back. That is the point of this team and accepting that will help break an opponent down for the moment Melmetal hits the battlefield refreshed for round two. It is important to note however, that unlike healing wish, Z parting shot does not remove status conditions. This is extra important given that teams will often rely on either Moltres or Zapdos to attempt to stop Mel. The former actually being one of the few things in this metagame that can. Avoid status, mostly burn, respect the few switch ins your opponent can actually make and don’t be afraid to call them out with an elemental punch or a double switch. Other than exclusively Ferrothorn, Super Bulky Corv, Super bulky Mola and Bulky Moltres there is almost nothing that can handle a banded double iron bash so just click it and watch the chunky damage numbers go up.
This is your primary Z parting shot target and in most games what you should be aiming to heal up. Do not be afraid to take big damage on Mel assuming that you’re also dealing big damage back. That is the point of this team and accepting that will help break an opponent down for the moment Melmetal hits the battlefield refreshed for round two. It is important to note however, that unlike healing wish, Z parting shot does not remove status conditions. This is extra important given that teams will often rely on either Moltres or Zapdos to attempt to stop Mel. The former actually being one of the few things in this metagame that can. Avoid status, mostly burn, respect the few switch ins your opponent can actually make and don’t be afraid to call them out with an elemental punch or a double switch. Other than exclusively Ferrothorn, Super Bulky Corv, Super bulky Mola and Bulky Moltres there is almost nothing that can handle a banded double iron bash so just click it and watch the chunky damage numbers go up.
Ogerpon-Wellspring:
The Pon (Ogerpon-Wellspring) (F) @ Wellspring Mask
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ivy Cudgel
- Power Whip
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ivy Cudgel
- Power Whip
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Ogerpon my beloved. I’m honestly starting to believe this guy might be an unhealthy presence in the tier because there is scant little out there that can handle a well put together Wellspring offense. This mon provides an absolutely overwhelming threat while somehow also managing to dispense solid support for its team in the form of knock off and u-turn. I’ve already discussed the value Melmetal provides Pon offensively but it is far from the only synergy the ogre benefits from. First of all, Pecharunt is an incredible partner. Their most iconic synergy is working together to be a Freddy Krueger level nightmare for any poor Alomomola faced with predicting a switch in, but it is far from their only. Pecha acts as a very solid switch to most grass types in the metagame, a type of mon that often finds themselves switching into Ogerpon. One u-turn later and they’ll realize how foolish the idea of checking this monster actually is. Torn gets to be a good answer to any flying types threatening Pon offensively as well as helping remove those aforementioned bulky grasses. Finally, it works with Samurott to clear the way for an end game fast water type sweep as well as forcing switches like no other to profit off any hazards already set. It reliably gets the chance to knock off, further weakening teams to Hamurotts hazards and even when played poorly it routinely leaves a cudgel shaped dent in opposing structures.
Samurott-Hisui:
Blue Horn Samurai (Samurott-Hisui) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sharpness
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Razor Shell
- Ceaseless Edge
- Sacred Sword
- Flip Turn
Ability: Sharpness
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Razor Shell
- Ceaseless Edge
- Sacred Sword
- Flip Turn
Can you run an offensive hazard stack without this guy? Probably, but it certainly wouldn’t be as easy. Hamurott is here for two things and two things alone, spikes and speed. To that end it is the teams requisite scarfer and primary fast physical threat. Take any opportunity you can to pivot this in and watch as your opponent has to make an agonizing decision about whether to play against ceaseless edge, razor shell or flip turn. One where all the odds are stacked in your favour as even in the worst scenarios you’re getting the almighty hazards, momentum or solid chip on the already strained water checks. Oh and did I mention you can do this over and over and over and over again. No pokemon on this team ever struggles to find an opportunity to enter the battlefield and Hamurott may just utilize those opportunities better than any other.
Your primary goal with this pokemon is to get spikes up, but as you are choiced strongly consider what you are inviting in if you do lock into ceaseless edge. Letting a tusk or a gambit onto the battlefield certainly isn't the end of the world, but you don't love it either. There are situations in which hazards aren’t as valuable as that all important chip. That being said, like 75% of the time just click ceaseless. You are able to exploit hazards so well with this core that even just getting one spike and having to switch out can be game winning. Overall this is a good mon that fits excellently with the gameplan and has good synergy with the other team members, there's really not a lot more to say. The only thing up in the air is whether to make the last move aqua jet or sacred sword. Priority is something this team lacks and having a last resort check, even if it isn’t a great one, into setup threats is valuable. Sacred sword on the other hand, is phenomenal coverage though mostly finds use against Gambit and other Hamurotts. I lean aqua jet because no prio feels wrong, but having messed around with both they feel fairly equivalent.
Your primary goal with this pokemon is to get spikes up, but as you are choiced strongly consider what you are inviting in if you do lock into ceaseless edge. Letting a tusk or a gambit onto the battlefield certainly isn't the end of the world, but you don't love it either. There are situations in which hazards aren’t as valuable as that all important chip. That being said, like 75% of the time just click ceaseless. You are able to exploit hazards so well with this core that even just getting one spike and having to switch out can be game winning. Overall this is a good mon that fits excellently with the gameplan and has good synergy with the other team members, there's really not a lot more to say. The only thing up in the air is whether to make the last move aqua jet or sacred sword. Priority is something this team lacks and having a last resort check, even if it isn’t a great one, into setup threats is valuable. Sacred sword on the other hand, is phenomenal coverage though mostly finds use against Gambit and other Hamurotts. I lean aqua jet because no prio feels wrong, but having messed around with both they feel fairly equivalent.
The Threats:
A bulky steel that can remove hazards and doesn’t care about Tusk, yeah this thing sucks. Out of every pokemon in this tier, this is the one you want to see the least queuing into a game. That being said it's beatable, it’s just going to be soooo sooo soooooooooooo annoying to do so. If you’re lucky, it's not super bulky or they switch it in on a Melmetal thunder punch and you can severely weaken it. From there always stay ahead of the roost with momentum moves and you’re good. If you’re unlucky and bad enough to lose your melmetal for free, say by keeping it in against a z gholdengo turn one, you’re in for 60 turns of pure struggle. You cannot touch an iron press pressure set, but the true horror is that it cannot touch you either. If you find yourself in this situation, knock its item off as quickly as you can and repeatedly switch between Pecharunt and Torn, slowly whittling it down and stalling it out of roosts on its own brave bird recoil. If you feel confident, throw out some heatwaves and hope for the chance to burn, but likelier than not pressures going to run you out before you’re going to hit the status jackpot. This strategy is going to give your opponent plenty of opportunities to call you out and go for the double switch, but hey, Corv isn't top of the threat list for nothing. Preserve your melmetal, chip it down before it can iron defense and hope you get a lucky burn, else you’ll find yourself in the replay below. If worst comes to worse, get Pon onto the battlefield as many times as possible and fish for the ⅛ cudgel crit as it switches in, setups variants usually run some spdef so you can break if you get lucky.
Even outside iron press, it’s still a tremendous threat that can reliably swap in and hazard clear while proving nightmarish to kill. Full phys def variants can be beaten by torn and heatwave spam, but you’re losing a lot of pp and risking some brave bird crit shenanigans. Thankfully it's a rarer sight in this day and age due to Ghold supremacy but it is easily the biggest threat to this squad. If the team were to be tweaked, finding out how to get a special attacking fire onto the roster would be unbelievably valuable.
Oh and if it's bulk up you get 6-0’d. Sorry.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2278286772-kdwz1l2qccg79r13ghdjmnbrxc6h58vpw?p2 (For the love of everything click knock off on it please. Don't be like me and wait till turn 40)
Even outside iron press, it’s still a tremendous threat that can reliably swap in and hazard clear while proving nightmarish to kill. Full phys def variants can be beaten by torn and heatwave spam, but you’re losing a lot of pp and risking some brave bird crit shenanigans. Thankfully it's a rarer sight in this day and age due to Ghold supremacy but it is easily the biggest threat to this squad. If the team were to be tweaked, finding out how to get a special attacking fire onto the roster would be unbelievably valuable.
Oh and if it's bulk up you get 6-0’d. Sorry.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2278286772-kdwz1l2qccg79r13ghdjmnbrxc6h58vpw?p2 (For the love of everything click knock off on it please. Don't be like me and wait till turn 40)
You have two water types, a flying type and your ground type hates fairies, is it really a surprise that a fast electric fairy is menacing? This is never going to be a pokemon you love seeing, but depending on its set it can be mitigated. Specs is the scariest as without great predictions you do not have a switch in, but it's also the most playable if you’ve got that raw gaming skill. Or just feel kinda lucky, it's mostly the luck. Other sets are annoying, but can’t take down Torn in one hit so you’re granted at least one safe switch through. A bit of pivot damage and hazards can chip it into scarf Samurott range and both Pecharunt and Melmetal can take a hit and severely weaken it if not outright delete it. Play aggressive with your pivots to stay ahead of it and you should be able to take it out through sheer momentum.
One of the few mons in the tier that makes double iron bash a completely unclickable move. Even with a proper prediction of thunder punch you do not one shot, and you risk the 30% gamble to completely invalidate Melmetal as a threat going forward. In addition, Ogerpon cannot oneshot Molt nor can it risk u-turning or taking a hurricane. It greatly limits what you can actually do when you see it on the opposing team. Thankfully, you do have an extremely reliable answer in the form of Tornadus. It’s not realistically going to be able to kill its flaming counterpart, but Torn can do the next best thing, it can scuff Molt's Jays. A Moltres without boots is a much more manageable threat and getting them off is fairly easy for this team. If rocks are up everything is manageable from there. The Pon double switch is threatening again and thunder punch OHKOs as it always should have. Despite this counterplay the limiting nature of an early game Moltres still grants it a fairly high spot on this threat list.
This pokemon asks you one question every time it hits the field: “Is Tornadus alive?”. If the answer is yes, this thing isn’t remotely threatening. Switch the bird in, click knock off or heat wave, u-turn out. If the answer is no.... Welcome to corviknight on steroids. It has a free entrance on Pecharunt and is very easily able to play around Melmetals attempts to break it. Not to mention how it shrugs off Pons. You can chip it down, but its barbs are going to be chipping you right back. Add in leech seeds healing and you’re in for a marathon of pain. Trade whatever you need to to get an Ogerpon knock off and hope beyond hope that there's not a little heart shaped fish standing right next to it to wish it back up into the green hp range. If you do face Ferro, it is absolutely mandatory that you do not give up Torn unless you are certain you’ve taken enough pieces to play the long game against it.
A bulky steel that routinely runs a punishing protect variant and can threaten Melmetal with super effective coverage on the special side. Add a lucrative side gig of bullying Pecharunt into the equation and you have an uncommon yet unwelcome tier presence for this team. When it finds its entrances, and it will find its entrances, it has solid enough coverage to be awful threatening to pretty much everything on the squad. Pivot well and cash in Torn’s hp to scout the set until you have a better idea of what it's missing and where it can be punished. Tusk is your best bet if you can pivot in without eating a shadow ball and more than a few pokemon on the team can force it out provided they can enter against it in the first place. Overall not the worst thing in the world due to a lack of recovery and typical absence of boots, but not something you’re ever thrilled about seeing.
Similar struggles to Corv with the bulky recover sets, but Tusk and Hamurott can beat it reliably. Its unique flavor of pain is being an unbelievably goated Pecharunt switch in not unlike a similar steel ghost mentioned just above. Yes you can call it out with shadow ball, but I'm going to be honest with you. That doesn't happen. When played right, your opponent will figure out the turn you’re clicking Maligy or Parting Shot and they will switch into it. That's where things get tough. You cannot keep Pecharunt in, and depending on the set it is very difficult to switch into, especially without the typical salve of parting shot for bad matchups. It annoys torn with the threat of paralysis and while certainly not unbreakable it's capable of dealing massive damage to anything else that would switch in to try. Thankfully it does get forced out pretty easily but even then its very existence turns parting shot into a liability and limits your pivots. While it seems somewhat unthreatening for this team on paper, I never had a Ghold matchup in practice that wasn’t significantly complicated by its presence. Also if you do click z parting shot on it, you wont switch with the move but you will get the heal when you manually switch out.
Certainly not an issue to take out offensively. Over half the team has a way to absolutely nuke Diancie. Where it does become an issue, is switching into it. It repeatedly finds field access through checking Torn’s full kit and forcing the bird to u-turn right after. From there, a combo of earth power and moonblast are enough to seriously chunk every pokemon on the team. It is forced out right after, but it will be right back when Torn hits the field again ready to chunk the team over again. It’s lower on the threat list because good u-turns entirely negate her, and even resisted she can only swap into bleakwind a limited number of times. Not fun to manage, but playable, especially if you can set spikes.
I didn't encounter many Scizors on the climb, but everything points towards it being exactly the kind of pokemon this team hates to see. Bulk, steel typing, and hard to take out if Torn goes down. Keep torn alive and heat wave should cook this. Let me know if you get more experience here.
Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2278275754-cn8i793p7cwguhrecfr5sd8q4lyhilepw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2278280352-9vnqxeiwk2qzmy8hgpqpvkcdfq2aindpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2278286772-kdwz1l2qccg79r13ghdjmnbrxc6h58vpw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2276415125?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2276418583?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2276990368-szgqgvcnx2flzyt98tyqh9r224niolapw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2276998166
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2278280352-9vnqxeiwk2qzmy8hgpqpvkcdfq2aindpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2278286772-kdwz1l2qccg79r13ghdjmnbrxc6h58vpw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2276415125?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2276418583?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2276990368-szgqgvcnx2flzyt98tyqh9r224niolapw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2276998166
Conclusion
For a second shot at team building, this experience was much more in line with what I expected. I really struggled to identify what the actual strengths of both the set and the pokemon I had chosen to build around were. It took time and effort as well as a willingness to sit down and not just randomly try things in order to get this team to where it is today. An experience that has taught me a lot going forward. Overall I am somewhat pleased with this team, but do not quite feel 100% content with it. The struggle with bulky steels is something I really do wish I could have better strengthened this build against, but by the time it was identified and this final form had been achieved I was already a bit over working on this one. It's an attempt I'll forever be happy with, if just finally say I've made parting shot work, but its not the slam dunk like my previous build and that sticks with me. Here's to next moth which I'm quite excited about.
here's a little teaser for what to look forward to:
As always, I've been Moon Jelly, thanks for reading, enjoy the teams and I still don't know how to left align text within a centered spoiler tag!
Last edited:
