National Dex Avaluggs wilder ride (Peaked #1, 1859 Elo)

Korago · Apr 21, 2020

Introduction

Hey cuties. When the Mega Blastoise suspect test began a few weeks ago I decided to dust off my old SM Avalugg stall team(which can be found here) to try and get reqs. This ended up being surprisingly easy with the team achieving a perfect score of 36-0. Following this, I wanted to see how far I could push the team and my ability as a stall player. Initially, I decided to try out the new item Heavy Duty Boots on both Avalugg and Shedinja but ultimately found them inferior to sash and leftovers as Avalugg could usually spin, even after taking 25% from rocks while the sash proved to be crucial on Shedinja. As such, this team ended up being completely identical to its gen 7 counterpart as I felt none of the new additions such as the previously mentioned boots or Body Press on Avalugg were superior over their older counterparts.

In-depth Analysis

Sableye-Mega @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Mega Sableye retains its role as the king of stall in generation 8 with its role almost completely unchanged from generation 7, with the added benefit of also checking Dragapult in an emergency. Sableye itself invalidates a lot of potential threats and annoyances to stall, such as Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Celesteela and most Heatran sets lacking z-moves. Sableye is fully invested into special defense in order to be able to fully wall non-z move magma Storm Heatran, one of the more common stealth rockers capable of breaking through stall. 8 EVs are put into speed in order to always outspeed power whip Ferrothorn, which sometimes run 4 speed EV's to outspeed and 2H KO Sableye on the switch. As this team has both a defogger and a spinner in Skarmory and Avalugg this frees up Sableye to play a more supportive role to help deal with threats that otherwise threaten to break the team such as Z-substitute Blacephalon which fails to 1HKO Sableye at +1 and takes over 70% from knock off.

Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 8 HP / 252 Def / 248 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss
Like Sableye, Chansey retains her role on stall teams with the generation shift. This team foregoes the otherwise tempting teleport as Chansey is already stressed for moveslots and would more often than not rather fire off a toxic on the switch or setup stealth rocks. The set is otherwise a fairly standard support/wall set, with toxic and stealth rocks to wear down switchins as previously mentioned, complimented by soft-boiled for recovery and seismic toss for general utility and damage. This sets EV's deviate a bit from the standard full physically defensive set as Chansey is very rarely exposed to the usual u-turn chip damage from special attackers due to them usually being blocked or dissuaded by Shedinja and as such more special bulk can be invested into over HP.

Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 184 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Counter
- Roost
- Defog
- Toxic

Skarmory retains its role over the otherwise tempting Corviknight for two reasons: Sturdy and Counter. With Sturdy, Skarmory is able to consistently defog as long as it switches in on stealth rocks, even if it means sacrificing everything but one point of its hit points. A situation that occurs more often than not, such as when switching in on a burn suiciding Excadrill at 6%. Counter is similarly often more useful over Body press as it is capable of 1HKO'ing almost every single physical attacker that has boosted with swords dance and in combination with Study allows Skarmory to suicide counter in order to eliminate a threat that could otherwise sweep the team. A variant of the team utilizing Body Press Corviknight over Skarmorys Counter would definitely be viable and in many cases, probably superior. Particularly as Corviknight can stall out several Stealth Rock settlers the team struggles with such as the previous mentioned Excadrill, but this was never properly tested. Overall Skarmory fills several important niches on this team, notably dealing with steel and ground types and the rocks they may setup. Setup steel type sweepers that are able to muscle through Shedinja, such as Mega-Mawile, Kartana, Bisharp, and Exadrill can be hugely problematic for this team and as such Skarmorys primary role is to prevent them from breaking through the team. Skarmory also serves as the stealth rock remover from lead Excadrill once it has been burned by Toxapex or Sableye. 184 Speed EV's are run in order to outspeed and roost on Choice Band Tyraninatar. As roost removes Skarmory's flying type it can comfortably tank the second stone edge after switching in and heal up once Tyranitar eventually switches out.

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Knock Off
- Haze
- Scald
- Recover

The bane of offensive and balance teams alike returns to fill the same shoes as it did in the previous generation, happily walling some of the new threatening wall breakers such as Dragapult and the monstrous choice band Dracovish and Darmanitan Galar. While Toxapex still serves as the defensive glue pokemon of the team as well as a blanket check to most physical attackers and u-turners. It now also serves as the primary check for the previously mentioned newcomers in combination with its best friend Shedinja. Toxapex can easily switch into any Dragapult set and scout whether it is physical or special while also walling any setup variant as it is never 1HKO'd from +1 Never-Ending Nightmare. As long as it is somewhat healthy, Toxapex can switch into both Dracovish and Darmanitan Galar to scout what they lock themselves into and then switch into Shedinja should they have locked themselves into either Earthquake or Psychic Fangs. A fully physical defensive set is run as the team already handles special attackers very well with Sableye, Chansey and Shedinja and Toxapex needs the physical bulk to safely wall the previously mentioned threats. 8 EV's are invested into speed to outspeed calm mind Reuniclus. Knock Off is run over the more common toxic spikes as Toxapex has a tendency to lure in defensive Pokemon such as Tapu Fini, Heatran, Ferrothorn, Celesteela, Rotom-heat, and Corviknight or other flying-type defoggers. None of whom appreciate having their only source of recovery or boots removed. Even with no investment into special defense, Toxapex can still easily tank volt switches from defensive pokemon such as Magearna and Rotom-wash / heat. Preventing Chansey from getting chipped by repeatable switchins.

Avalugg @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 68 Def / 192 SpD
Careful Nature
- Avalanche
- Recover
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin

The glacially slow iceberg pokemon that has risen to fame in OU and UU with the addition of Heavy-Duty boots and Body Press, neither of which are utilized by this team. Avalanche is still preferred over Body Press due its ability to 1HKO Garchomp, Landorus, Dragonite, Salamence and most other attackers weak to ice. Heavy-duty boots are also not utilized as against teams where they would be useful, most notably hyper offensive teams using sash Excadrill all carry a ghost type to prevent Avalugg from spinning. By investing in Avaluggs special defence, Avalugg becomes able to tank at least one hit of even the hardest-hitting special attackers, not even being 1HKO'd by a specs Tapu Lele physic in terrain, while also walling mixed attackers such as LO Kyurem-B. Avaluggs primary role on the team is to limit Stealth rocks from ice weak setup sweepers such as Landorus and Garchomp while also being able to get an emergency spin off on almost anything. Avalugg also serves as a similar "suicide counter" as Skarmory to several physical attackers in cases where Skarmory cannot be sacrificed or has lost its sturdy. With a 120 base power avalanche, Avalugg gets a clean 1HKO on several threatening sweepers such as Mega Pinsir and Serperior while KO-ing several other dangerous attackers such as Torandus Therian, Hawluncha and Kommo-o with either a roll or stealth rock chip damage. Lastly 68 defense EV's are run in order to never be 2HKO'd by Hyperspace Fury from Adamant choice band Hoopa-Unbound

Shedinja @ Focus Sash
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Shadow Ball
- Protect
- Toxic
- Will-O-Wisp

Probably the most unusual pokemon to be found on the team while also one of the most polarizing. Shedinja with its unique ability Wonder Guard negates a large amount of the most threatening pokemon in the metagame while also providing an emergency Toxic or Will-O-Wisp with its focus sash. Shedinjas role is to primarily stop volturners from getting free switches and slowly chipping away at their retrospective walls while also serving as a hard wall to attackers lacking Fire, Dark, Rock, Ghost or Flying coverage such as Melmetal, Mega-Medicham, Mega-Swampert and Some Mega-Mawile sets. Shedinja also forms an excellent two pokemon core with Toxapex against choice band users (with the exception of Hoopa-Unbound and Tyranitar) as Toxapex can come in to scout the hit and then switch out to Shedinja if the chosen move cannot hit Shedinja. While an attacker may have a move to hit Shedinja with, Shedinja can usually cripple them with Will-O-Wisp or Toxic as it hangs on with its focus sash. Shedinja also has a unique effect of forcing the opponent to predict whether it will come in or not. For example, Choice-specs Tapu Lele can struggle greatly with this team as it has to predict what to lock itself into every time it comes in. Hidden power fire deals with Shedinja but does almost nothing to Sableye and Chansey, Psyshock 2HKO's chansey but does nothing to Sableye and Shedinja and Moonblast KO's Sableye but is ineffective against Chansey and Shedinja. Shedinja can be run with Safety Goggles or Heavy-duty boots over Focus Sash if you predict your opponent to bring a sand or hail setter along with a threat Shedinja must counter or if think you cannot manage to completely keep hazards off the field, but doing so greatly compromises Shedinja as a single wrong prediction will end up in it getting KO'd and the game lost. Lastly, 0 SpD EV's are run to always 1HKO ditto in the rare case it copies Shedinja.

Sableye-Mega @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 8 HP / 252 Def / 248 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss

Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 184 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Counter
- Roost
- Defog
- Toxic

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Knock Off
- Haze
- Scald
- Recover

Avalugg @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 68 Def / 192 SpD
Careful Nature
- Avalanche
- Recover
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin

Shedinja @ Focus Sash
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Shadow Ball
- Protect
- Toxic
- Will-O-Wisp

OU

BP · Apr 21, 2020

Wouldn't HDB be a better fit on Avalugg? Shedninja is more debatable in that regard but I think Shed is almost required to run Sash.

EDIT: "Heavy-duty boots are also not utilized as against teams where they would be useful, most notably hyper offensive teams using sash Excadrill all carry a ghost type to prevent Avalugg from spinning."

Korago · Apr 21, 2020

BP said:
Wouldn't HDB be a better fit on Avalugg? Shedninja is more debatable in that regard but I think Shed is almost required to run Sash.

EDIT: "Heavy-duty boots are also not utilized as against teams where they would be useful, most notably hyper offensive teams using sash Excadrill all carry a ghost type to prevent Avalugg from spinning."

Didn't see your reply before my ninja edit. Boots could definitely be useful on Avalugg over leftovers, however the team was built around almost universally preventing hazards going up so it is rather rare that Avalugg has to actually spin. Coupled with its mixed bulk it does usually spin on Pokémon that usually switch in after rocks such as Magearna and Magnezone. I found leftovers to be super useful against the near omnipresent landorus-t that loves to u-turn out. Additionally removing leftovers also leaves it vulnerable to getting 2KO'd by adamant choice band hoopa-u. That is not to say boots are not viable if you can preserve study which means not switching into u-turners. Having a guaranteed study can be fantastic for spinning so I would say it's a 60-40 between boots and leftovers. I would probably recommend using boots when are first learning the team as it gives it a lot more room to make mistakes

National Dex Avaluggs wilder ride (Peaked #1, 1859 Elo)

Korago

BP

Upper Decky Lip Mints

Korago

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