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Introduction
Hullo! This is my second official team in Pokemon Showdown, and probably my favorite. It's based loosely around my original, however, I feel this team offers more coverage and utility so it warrants a new post. I'd like to give special thanks to my friend Bnana#8146 on Discord (Bnana Man in Showdown), who helped with the teambuilding and testing of this team.
After binging the Marvel movies, I decided to base my team around them, hence "Black Widow" the Primarina.
Teambuilding
Primarina + Clefable is a tried-and-true balance core, due to it's reliable recovery and ability to threaten top-tier threats, such as Dragons, Urishifu and Heatran.
From here, I added my lead, Incineroar. Intimidate + Parting Shot allows for easy switching in, and annoys common checks, such as Landorus-I.
With access to Prankster, Thundurus serves as our Defogger, with the added bonus of being able to spread Thunder Wave easily with Ring Target.
The last two attackers are Zygarde and Aegislash, because they're offense powerhouses that check many of the common threats in the meta, as well as providing Electric + Toxic immunities respectively.
In-Depth
Black Widow (Primarina) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Liquid Voice
EVs: 196 HP / 96 Def / 40 SpA / 176 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Moonblast
Ability: Liquid Voice
EVs: 196 HP / 96 Def / 40 SpA / 176 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Moonblast
Primarina, the star of the show. Full props for the set, which come from here, to Ruft. Named "Black Widow" for my favorite Marvel character, Primarina is the ringleader of the team and check to Landorus-I, any dragons, Heatran, Tyranitar and co., as well as emergency check to Spectrier and Melmetal. Substitute + Calm Mind if fairly standard, and also allows it to wall special attackers without supereffective STAB. Scald is extremely useful for physical threats, such as the aforementioned Melmetal, due to the chance to Burn, and Moonblast is a nuke towards the common Fighting- and Dragon-types of OU.
Capt. Marvel (Clefable) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Toxic
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Toxic
"Captain Marvel" acts as our utility as well as main Fairy-type. Wish can be used to heal itself or it's teammates, and Toxic is chosen over Teleport to give her more overall usability. Protect can be used as stall, for Toxic, Wish, or both; as well as scouting for coverage moves. The EV's are shoved into HP and Special Defense to make it more viable as a staller, because it commonly checks Special wallbreakers like Dragapult + Spectrier with Toxic.
Peter Parker (Incineroar) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Darkest Lariat
- Parting Shot
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Darkest Lariat
- Parting Shot
Probably one of the most, if not the most, useful 'mons on this team. "Peter Parker" is a standard lead and pivot, with Fake Out to check for Focus Sash leads, and Parting Shot for possible threats such as Landorus-I. Flare Blitz is extremely powerful STAB that punishes Scizor and Ferrothorn, as well as Darkest Lariat for Psychic-types that it can also check. Intimidate is a wonderfully versatile ability, and combined with Heavy Duty Boots, it can switch into any physical threat to help it's teammates. EV's are dumped into Speed to give it a chance offensively, and Attack to make use of it's relatively short offense lifespan.
Hulk (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Defog
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Toxic
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Defog
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Toxic
Originally Thundurus-I. Tornadus serves well as our defogger and Knock Off user, capable of crippling walls such as Clefable and Toxapex that rely on them, as well as outspeeding Choice Band users like Rillaboom. Toxic is useful in a pinch, as well as U-turn to build momentum and switch safely into a more capable teammate. Regenerator + Heavy Duty Boots mean it has impressive longevity, it just needs to be careful around the tiers common Electric-types. It dovetails off of Zygarde's Electric resistance, and between the two of them, can tackle a good portion of the meta.
Bucky Barnes (Zygarde) @ Leftovers
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Coil
- Glare
- Thousand Arrows
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Coil
- Glare
- Thousand Arrows
A fairly standard Sub + Coil set with Leftovers for healing. Substitute helps Zygarde avoid being crippled by Toxic or Glare, and Thousand Arrows is powerful STAB that hits prominant 'mons such as Tapu Koko, Regieleki and Heatran for supereffective damage. Adamant is preferred over Jolly because generally, it can hide safely from behind it's Substitute, and it's intention is to deal as much damage as possible. Glare is a very good move, especially against Scarf or stall Pokemon, as para decreases their usability and allows Zygarde a chance to set up. Extremely overpowered, and capable of making much of the OU Primarina fodder.
Iron Man (Aegislash) (M) @ Spell Tag
Ability: Stance Change
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat
Ability: Stance Change
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat
Capable of tanking a hit and countering with massive damage, "Iron Man" is a very viable, very powerful member of this team. While Magneara might be somewhat more viable, Aegislash threatens the tiers popular Special walls with Swords Dance + immense coverage, such as Close Combat, which can one-shot Melmetal. Spell Tag is an item to boost the power of Shadow Sneak, a lackluster but still priority move. Shadow Sneak + STAB is 60 damage, times the 1.2 boost Spell Tag gives is a 72 base power priority move -- nothing to shake a stick at, especially considering his massive attack stat. It's most common threats are Fire-types like Volcarona and Heatran as well as Knock Off users, however, the team covers a lot of these threats already, so it's important to switch around freely.
Replays
Five consecutive replays, in order.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1221360677 → Against a Sticky Webs Shuckle team. Admittedly bad playing on my part, but still a win.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1221379052 → Trick Room team. Props to wizard2000 for remarkable stall abilities.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1221386693 → Offense team with Scarf Ditto. Zygarde sweep.
Disclaimer: Around here, I noticed that Thundurus' Ring Target wasn't working, so I made a quick team edit:
Hulk (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Defog
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Toxic
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Defog
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Toxic
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1221432914 → A hyper offense team featuring Nidoking and Choice Band Scizor. Tornadus was surprisingly useful.
Threat List
Depending on what coverage and moveset Pheromosa runs, dealing with it can be a hassle. Aegislash can switch into Close Combat and resists the majority of it's moves, but the rest of the team struggles.
Trick Room teams can prove arduous, as most of the team relies on speed. Aegislash is generally a good choice against many Trick Room teams, due to Iron Head + Close Combat punishing their Fairy- and Steel-types. Shadow Sneak is also useful, as priority is still active.
Bulky Grass-types, such as listed above, can be effective walls against this team. If you don't feel comfortable against them and Pheromosa, it's viable to run Air Slash or Heat Wave on Tornadus.
I'd love to hear any thoughts you have, or possible switches I could make for better matchups against the threat list!
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