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I have a few edits to suggest for the Ice sample team:
Rotom-F > Lapras: Rotom-F is also capable of wearing down and eventually beating Mega Scizor due to its access to Will-O-Wisp, while also offering a bulky pivot, which is especially nice for HO Ice. The team shouldn't need extra support in the Water matchup regardless. Here's the Rotom-F set:
Naive>Rash on Kyurem-B: Kyurem-B needs to be able to outspeed Nidoking, Vincune, and Krookodile before they can either set up Stealth Rock or get up a Substitute. Rash isn't netting any particularly notable KOs anyway.
31 HP IVs > 0 HP IVs on Mamoswine: Mamoswine really benefits from the extra bulk in the scenario that its Focus Sash breaks and it needs to survive a hit:
Mega Diancie:
0 HP IVs: 240 SpA Diancie-Mega Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mamoswine: 271-321 (82.1 - 97.2%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
31 HP IVs: 240 SpA Diancie-Mega Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mamoswine: 271-321 (75 - 88.9%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Nihilego:
0 HP IVs: +1 252 SpA Nihilego Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mamoswine: 291-343 (88.1 - 103.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
31 HP IVs: +1 252 SpA Nihilego Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mamoswine: 291-343 (80.6 - 95%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
While these chances aren't guaranteed, they're still much better in comparison to not having any HP IVs.
Sorry this update took so long with Naga suspect then Finals then Holidays. With no further adieu...
||| BUG |||
Mega Heracross Offensive:
- This team has been deleted
|| DARK ||
Smubs Balance Dark:
- Greninja now uses the Choice Scarf Set
- Hydreigon now uses Life Orb: STABS + Taunt + Roost
|| DRAGON ||
Eien’s Offensive Dragon:
- Kommo-o has been placed over Hydreigon
- Mega Alt now uses a max HP and max Speed EV Spread
Mega Latias Dragon
- Kommo-O has been placed over Hydreigon
- Fixed a mistake with Mega Latias's EV spread
|| FIGHTING ||
- Kommo-O has been placed over Breloom
|| FIRE ||
Mega Zard Y Team:
- Rotom-heat has replaced Alola Marowak
- Roost > Defog on Mega Zard Y
|| ICE ||
- Rash over Naïve on Kyurem-B
- Max HP IVS on Mamoswine
|| POISON ||
- Fire Blast over Shadow Sneak on Alola Muk
|| ROCK ||
- Choice Band Golem Alola has replaced Rhypherior
|| STEEL ||
- Celesteela has replaced Bisharp
And here are new teams that we need samples for!
Balance water ft. PerishPool Azumarill
Stakataka Steel
H.O. Steel
Ground ft. Gastrodon and Mega Garchomp
Mega Aero Flying
Balance Flying ft. Defog Gliscor + Celesteela
Offensive Ghost
Sticky Web Fairy
-
And of course suggestions to existing samples are always appreciated; I'm sure I missed some things. Thanks for being patient, and Happy New Years everyone!
Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Wave
- Gravity
This is a balance Ground team with Gastradon and Mega Garchomp, Gastradon enables ground teams to check threatening Pokemon for ground teams such as keldeo,Scarf Greninja and other water types reliably mainly due to Gastrodons higer bulk and access to a reliable recovery move in recover. Garchomp mega on the other hand is a hard hitting wall breaker in sand that has good bulk to let it check threats such as belly drum azumarill from full health.
Hippwdown: Standard Utility set with stealth rock and whirlwind to support the team. It provides sand which is essential for weather abuser like sand rush excadrill on the team. Slack off provides reliable recovery and Hippwdown forms a decent defensive core with Gastrodon as it can rely on it to sponge water and ice moves for it.
Gastrodon : Gastrodon allows the team to tank ice type moves from the likes of Greninja and mamowsine due it's good bulk and thanks to its ability it provides the team with an immunity to water type moves. As for the set it's fairly standard. Toxic + Recover allows to stall out walls or threats such as keldeo. Scald allows it to fish for burns which increases its bulk and spreads chip damage.
Garchomp-Mega: Swords Dance offensive set to wall break even better as Mega Garchomp hits really hard in sand due to its ability sand force. Earthquake and Fire Fang provide good coverage that allows it to take on flying and steel types such as Celesteela and Skarmory after a swords dance under its belt. Outrage is the other stab move that hits hard but locks Garchomp-Mega into it.
Excadrill : Sand Abuser of the team. Choice band set makes it a good wall breaker / Cleaner that is hard to switch into outside of dedicated walls. Earthquake and iron head form it's stab moves. Iron head allows it to pressure fairy types such as tapu bulu. Rock slide is for fire flying types like Charizard Mega Y. Lastly rapid spin is used as an emergency hazard control.
Landorus: Gravity Landorus and potent special wall breaker is used to take on Celesteela which is a pain otherwise. Earth power + focus blast provide good coverage together letting it take on skarmory. Sludge wave is used for fairy types such as tapu bulu, azumarill etc.
Dugtrio : Trapper Dugtrio acts as a good check to threats such as Alolan-Raichu,Greninja,Chansey,porygon2 etc all of which are problematic for ground teams. Reversal allows it to take out chansey+ porygon2 effectively brekaing normal core which enables excadrill or Landorus to wreck havoc. Sludge wave is used for tapu bulu to take it out or severally weaken it. 28 HP IV max powers reversal after 2 seismic toss and 2 def IV allows to Ohko ditto Dugtrio.
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Toxic
Celesteela @ Assault Vest
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpA / 32 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Flamethrower
- Earthquake
Skarmory:Suicide lead Skarmory set with dual hazards in spikes and stealth rock to pressure opposing teams. Spikes and stealth rock by skarmory is essential to offensive teammates on the team like Scizor and stakataka to score easy KOs or to clean up effectively.Taunt along with max speed is used to stop opposing hazard setter or leads. Once skarmory is done to sturdy brave bird can be used to faint itself with the recoil which provides momentum to the team
Heatran :Offensive heatran set is used here that can stall break with magma storm and taunt which completely shuts down walls since taunt prevents recovery moves. Stall breaker set allows heatran to take out walls that may trouble other teammates such as Toxapex,Chansey,Porrygon2 etc. Earth power allows it some decent coverage along with magma storm and it is used to hit opposing heatran and pokemon that resist magma storm such as Toxapex to wear it down. Stone edge is used to check Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona which are otherwise threats to the core.
Mega Scizor: Mega Scizor on the team acts a cleaner, thanks to its good typing and bunch of resistances mega scizor is a great set up sweeper as well. Mega Scizor appreciates the hazard stacking provided by this team to score easy KOs or to weaken its checks or counters. Swords dance allows mega scizor to threaten opposing teams and bullet punch allows it to clean effectively since it is a priority move. Bug bite being its STAB move has decent coverage along side bullet punch, hitting targets that resist bullet punch like water types. Superpower is used for opposing steel types like bulky heatran,ferrothorn etc.
Celesteela : Assault best Celesteela is used here to sponge special hits for the team while not draining momentum for the team. Av Celesteela also drastically improves ground match up for the team able to threaten ground teams with HP ice + Gigadrain. Flamethrower allows it to fry steel types such as Skarmory and ferrothorn whole earthquake allows it to catch unsuspecting heatran on the switch.
Bisharp: Bisharp on the team acts as wall breaker/sweeper. Bisharp deters defog users thanks to its ability defiant which gives bisharp a +2 attack.Knock off provides utility as it removes items, it also cripples item reliant pokemon like chansey or porygon2. Sucker punch is a priority move and is used for faster targets. Iron head has decent coverage in tandem with knock off. Darkiniumz allows to wall break walls such as Skarmory, Porygon2 etc after an sd.
Excadrill : Excadrill is the speed control of the team utilizing a choice scarf set.Excadrill also checks threatening fire types for the team like Mega charizard Y and Volcarona with rock slide. Earthquake along with mold breaker allows excadrill to damage levitate users like rotom-wash and latios. Iron head is its other stab move that hits pokemon immune to earthquake for good damage such as landorus. Lastly toxic is run on excadrill to cripple mega sableye as mold breaker ignores magic bounce. Toxic allows excadrill to cripple walls that switch on it without much fear like mandibuzz.
Mega Aerodactyl Flying :
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Protect
Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Rock Slide
- Knock off
Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Stealth Rock
Dragonite @ Choice Band
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Superpower
- Extreme Speed
- Fire Punch
Mantine @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 164 SpD / 96 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Defog
- Roost
- Haze
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 176 SpD / 80 Spe
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Roost
- Defog
- Toxic
This is a balanced flying team with Mega Aerodactyl: Celesteela: It is the physical wall of the team with a stall breaker set , leech seed is used to annoy switch ins and to rack up chip damagae, it also provides healing to celesteela and pseudo healing to teammates. Heavy slam is its stab move that hits hard to most neutral targets since celeesteela is very heavy and so it has a strong heavy slam, Flamethrower is used for steel types that get in its way such as ferrothorn, skarmory, opposing celesteela etc. protect is used to scout and gain an extra turn of leftovers or leech seed recovery.
Landorus: Landorus is a very potent wall breaker that deals heavy damage with its sheer force + life orb boosted attacks and has a very good synery with mega aerodactyl.Earthpower and focus blast provide good coverage, rock slide is for mantine and skarmory which wall landorus otherwise. Knock off allows Landorus to punish and dismantle normal eviolite cores as the core becomes much easier to break with knock off utility.
Mega Aerodactyl:Pursuit is used here to take out threats that normally dismantle flying core such as victini, with pursuit mega aerodactyl can effectively take it out by trapping it, Stone edge + Earthquake provide good coverage while aerial ace is its stab move that it boosted by its ability tough claws. Its base 150 speed acts as a pseudo speed control for the team.Lastly Mega Aerodactyl has a blazing speed and it forces switches and so stealth rock is used on it so that Landorus can use knock off and dismantle normal eviolite core.
Dragonite: The physical wall breaker of the team sporting a choice band set, it has very good offensive synergy with landorus as both break and weaken each others checks, Dragonite provides the team a powerful priority in extreemspeed which allows to clean late game or to revenge kill faster threats. Outrage is its stab move that hits very hard but locks it in it, superpower is used for heatran and normal types such as porgygon2. Fire punch allows it to 2hko skarmory. Adamant nature is used for more power.
Mantine: Mantine provides the team with defog support , water immunity and ice neutrality which is very important to check threats such as greninja for the team. 96 speed evs allows it to speed creep belly drum azumarill so it can haze and stop the sweep. Scald is the only attacking move on the set that has a nifty chance to burn the opposing pokemon allowing to spread chip damaage and deter switch ins. Roost is for longetivity.
Zapdos: Zapdos is the other Defog user on the team so that the team isn't entirely reliant on Mantine for Defog support. Zapdos also provides the team with Volt switch support which is well appreciated by wallbreaker on the team such as Landorus and Dragonite. Toxic allows it to cripple common switch ins and to break down walls such as Porygon2,Roost is for lonegtivity.
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Heavy Slam
- Protect
Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Solar Beam
- Roost
Dragonite @ Choice Band
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Superpower
- Extreme Speed
- Fire Punch
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Mantine @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 164 SpD / 96 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Roost
- Defog
- Haze
This is a team with Defog Gliscor and Celesteela: Gliscor: Gliscor makes for a good defog user due to its part ground typing and its ability poison heal. I decided to compress roles with stealth rock on Gliscor since the team has knock off support in landorus-T. Earthquake is its stab move that allows it to take on electric types for the team. However Knock off can be used over roost to annoy walls better. U-turn is an option as well to gain momentum and bring in a teammate safely.56 speed with jolly nature allows it to outspeed base 70 pokemon , rest of the evs are dumped into hp and defense to make it more bulky.
Celesteela: Defensive Celesteela is used here to take on threats like greninja, nihilego, Mega Diancie etc for the team. leech seed and toxic allows it to annoy and break down walls easier. Heavy slam is its strong stab move that helps in checking rock and ice types like mega diancie and mamoswine. Max sp.def along with max hp makes it very bulky on the special side.
Mega Charizard Y: It is the special wall breaker of the team, hitting very hard with sun boosted fire blast. Solar beam allows it to check water and rock types for the team, Focus blast provides good coverage hitting steel and rock types such as heatran and tyranitar hard. Roost is for sustain.
Dragonite: The physical wall breaker of the team sporting a choice band set, it has very good offensive synergy with Mega Charizard Y as both break and weaken each others checks, Dragonite provides the team a powerful priority in extreemspeed which allows to clean late game or to revenge kill faster threats. Outrage is its stab move that hits very hard but locks it in it, superpower is used for heatran and normal types such as porgygon2. Fire punch allows it to 2hko skarmory. Adamant nature is used for more power.
Landorus-T: Landorus-T is the speed control of the team which allows the team to check threats such as Mega Diancie and Tapu koko with earthquake, knock off provides utility support removing items from item reliant pokemon such as chansey + porygon2 which makes it easier for teammates to break such walls, u-turn allows it to gain momentum and bring in a wall breaker freely. Stone edge has good coverage in tandem with earthquake hitting flying and fire types for the team.
Mantine:Mantine provides the team with defog support , water immunity and ice neutrality which is very important to check threats such as greninja for the team. 96 speed evs allows it to speed creep belly drum azumarill so it can haze and stop the sweep. Scald is the only attacking move on the set that has a nifty chance to burn the opposing pokemon allowing to spread chip damaage and deter switch ins. Roost is for longetivity.
Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
This Sticky Webs team is based around hazard stack and hyper offense. The Pokemon Mega Diancie, Ribombee and Klefki are the hazard setters and Azumarill, Tapu Bulu and Tapu Koko are used to sweep the teams after.
Ribombee - Suicide lead set. Sets up Sticky Webs for the team and offers offensive pressure with Quiver Dance.
Mega Diancie - Stealth Rock setter as well as hazard control. Magic Bounce stops opponents from safely being able to click hazard moves. Psychic coverage for Poison-type teams as well as dual STAB hitting on both the physical and special side.
Klefki - Provides Spike support as well as important dual screens to help Azumarill set up a Belly Drum. Foul Play is also used in order to prevent being set up fodder vs physical attackers.
Azumarill - Set up sweeper of the team and general wincon against a lot of types. With support from hazards and screens, Azumarill sets up a Belly Drum and sweeps a lot of teams clean.
Tapu Bulu - Scarfer of the team. Hits very hard with Wood Hammer and gets reliable recovery in Horn Leech. Has the ability to hit Steel-types hard with Superpower. It also acts as an Earthquake switch in.
Tapu Koko - Great fast pivot for the team as well as sweeper, with heavy hitting Thunderbolts is it able to break through a lot of Pokemon it hits neutrally.
I wanted to build this team with double dance thundy-T.
Thundy-T: The zmove is ment to ko something after a nasty plot. It also helps in the electric mu with volt absorb.
Lando-T: I went with lando-T scarf since Thundy-T is the zmover. Knock off is useful for knocking off evolite and helps with psychic mons. U turn is helpful for pivoting and breaking sashes. It also serves as an electric immunity.
Dragonite: The standard dnite set. It's a powerful wallbreaker and helps breaks toxapex and Chansey.
Hawlucha: This thing is a monster once it sets up and doubles speed after eating its berry. It can easily sweep nomal once staraptor and Diggersby are down.
Charizard-Y: The main way to break steel. It's a powerful special attacker and also a way to get rid of rocks if aero didn't get to taunt the rock user. It also gets rid of weather with its drought ability.
Aerodactyl: I went with the suicide lead set. Taunt helps with annoying walls and rock settlers. Tailwind boosts speed and can easily help the mons keep damage off since this is usually used the turn aero gets knocked out.
Mantine @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 160 SpD / 96 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Haze
- Scald
- Defog
- Roost
Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rock Slide
- Stealth Rock
- Focus Blast
- Earth Power
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Leech Seed
- Heavy Slam
- Protect
- Flamethrower
Mega Aerodactyl Flying that revolves around Gliscor/Mantine/Celesteela as a defensive core and Lando as a Stealth Rocker. Dragonite with Dragonium Z can prove to be a nice wincon against types such as Poison and Electric. The reason why I have Knock Off on Gliscor over Stealth Rock on Gliscor is so that it can deal with Pokemon that do not get affected by Earthquake and can effectively stallbreak them.
I feel that the Rock team needs a few edits now that Alolan Golem has been placed over Rhyperior. Without Rhyperior the team becomes a lot weaker to Scarf Lando-T, which Rhyperior was the only reliable answer for on the team. Some ways to fix this without removing Alolan Golem are:
Making Nihilego Choice Scarf: Not having Choice Scarf Terrakion sucks a lot, but Choice Scarf Nihilego still has its select amount of threats that it can revenge kill. Since Power Gem still isn't needed, it can also make room for Toxic Spikes to wear down Azumarill in the Fairy matchup, which is especially nice when paired with Alolan Golem to trap Klefki. However, the opportunity cost of Scarf Terrakion is still very present.
Replacing Nihilego with Cradily: Physically defensive Cradily can switch into and avoid a 2HKO from Choice Scarf Lando-T, while still serving as a nice switch-in to Water type attacks.
Also, the Alolan Golem set itself also needs revising. It needs to run Jolly in order to outspeed Excadrill after Sticky Web, which can be especially important for the Ground matchup. It isn't missing out on anything too crucial by foregoing Adamant anyways, so it shouldn't matter that much. It also needs Brick Break over Stone Edge so that it can consistently break Klefki's screens after trapping it. Stone Edge is useless, since the only reason you use Alolan Golem is to trap Steels.
Golem-Alola @ Choice Band
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wild Charge
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Brick Break
Golurk: It is the Suicide lead of the team to set up stealth rock and to support trick room abusers such as Marowak-Alola and Cofagrigus in the team to score easier knock outs. Focus sash allows it to almost always set up stealth rock, Earthquake is it's stab move that hits hard since it is running an adamant nature. Stone Edge provides great Coverage in tandem with earthquake,hitting flying types such as Mantine for good damage.Dynamic punch is used to take advantage of its ability no guard also provides decent coverage in tandem with its other moves hitting steel and normal types for heavy damage.
Mega Sableye : Mega Sableye supports the team by providing defensive utility to the team. Knock off punsiehs switch ins and annoys walls by removing their items. Will-O-Wisp helps in checking threats such as Muk-Alola and Mega Scizor. Foul play is used to punsih set up sweepers that set up on Mega Sableye. Recover for sustain.
Mimikyu : Mimikyu is the trick room setter of the team that is also an emergency check to set up sweepers due to disguise and it's item red card. It's ability disguise allows it to almost always set trick room for its teammates. Destiny bond is to take out opposing threats that mimikyu can't deal with. Shadow sneak provides the team with priority and to pick off faster threats. Play rough helps in dealing with dark types such as hydreigon and opposing mega Sableye.
Marowak-Alola : The Trick room Abusers of the team. Rock head ability is used to negate flare blitz recoil as the team already has an electric immunity in golurk. It also makes it easy to spam flareblitz without worrying of recoil. Swords dance increases its attack set to sky high levels and making it almost impossible to wall. Shadow bone has good coverage with flare blitz hitting bulky water types. Earthquake is used for poison types such as Toxapex. 24 speed IVs let it outspeed toxapex outside of trick room.
Cofagrigus : It's the other Trick room abuser sporting OTR set where it can set trick room on its own. Nasty plot turns Cofagrigus into a threatening sweeper, shadow ball and HP Fighting is used as it has good coverage together. Ghostium z along with nasty plot enables Cofagrigus to nuke and heavily damage walls.
Gengar: Gengar is the speed control of the team so that the team isn't vulnerable outside of trick room and gengar can clean teams late game once trick room abusers have made the opposing teams weak. Sludge wave is used for fairy types and it really helps vs fairy teams where gengar can sweep once klefki is gone. Focus blast is used to hit steel,normal and dark types such as Heatran,Mega Lopunny and Tyranitar. Destiny bond allows to take down a threat gengar cannot Ohko. Trick can be used over destiny bond to cripple walls such as Celesteela and Chansey.
This is a very odd team, so I feel like I need to describe my success with this team to show it's not complete garbage. I've reached 1500 on two accounts (k43982 and Vin GT Flint) and am approaching 1500 with my current account, Vin Flint. I've peaked at 1600 and won a few Smogon Monotype tournaments using this team (or an older iteration). I've been editing and tweaking this team since early Gen 6, and this is my latest variation. Playing this team does require a certain level of skill and game sense to use, but once you get used to it, this team is very fun and rewarding to play.
I should also say that I designed this team so that you always have a chance to beat any type. I think a lot of players tend to give up on certain matchups and don't add moves or mons to counter their weak matchups so that they can strengthen their teams against neutral and favorable matchups. I understand why they do this, but I decided to try and make a team that does not lose to anything simply due to matchup. I don't think that I sacrificed too much to justify adding moves that counter my weak matchups, and I truly believe that with correct play, you can beat any team. That being said, there are still many tough matchups, and it may take some time to figure out how to win them, but given enough experience, I think that this team will be very rewarding to use.
Electric: You cannot outspeed Alolan-Raichu, and only Heatran can take hits from the Electric special attackers. But then again, Heatran can REALLY take hits from the special attackers. Use earth power to take out Tapu Koko or Raichu, and scarf Victini/Volcanion can sweep the rest.
Fighting: this is mostly difficult due to scarf Terrakion, but Torkoal is engineered specifically to beat that. Otherwise, you should have an ok time against Fighting. It should just come down to the better player.
Water: This comes down to how well you utilize your weather. Against rain teams, once you kill Pelipper you should be able to win with sun + solar beam, so I suggest using stealth rocks turn 1 to deal some residual damage to Pelipper. Zard-Y solar beam in the sun deals around 70% to most Pelipper sets, and if you can predict a Pelipper switch in dragon pulse can deal around 40% through rain, so you can often remove Pelipper early in the game. This matchup can be tough, but you have the tools to win.
Rock: Save Infernape to kill things with close combat and use Heatran to flash cannon stuff. Be careful of Terrakion and other fast sweepers (I vaguely recall shell smash Minior being a small problem), and this matchup should actually be in your favor.
Jellicent Ghost: The two most annoying mons for this team imo are Toxapex and Jellicent. Toxapex can be dealt with using tools that I will explain later, but Jellicent is another story. It has so much special bulk, and it can recover stall Zard-Y until cursed body blocks you from solar beaming the stupid jellyfish to death. With Mega-Sableye to back it up, Jellicent is a terrifying threat to this team and I honestly don't know what to do about it. If a Ghost player isn't running Jellicent though, the game should be an even, or dare I say easy, matchup.
Dragon: Mono-Dragon used to be an unwinnable matchup, but I have added a lot of tools on this team to beat it. I think I have the matchup down to a science. I will attack some replays down below, and since I don't have the stamina in my fingers to explain this all in detail, you can watch the replays to see patterns in my decision making. I will make sure to add multiple Dragon games.
Infernape @ Focus Sash
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Taunt
Heatran @ Assault Vest
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Flash Cannon
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge
Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Dragon Pulse
Volcanion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Solar Beam
Victini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bolt Strike
- V-create
- U-turn
- Zen Headbutt
Infernape
This set is just a standard suicide lead to get up rocks and taunt other rockers. Most of the time, that's all this mon is going to do. I suggest saving Infernape only when you are facing a Mono-Normal or Mono-Rock team: Normal because Infernape is your best bet against Chansey and Porygon-2 (although Victini V-Create does a lot of damage) and Mono-Rock because Close Combat is too valuable in this difficult matchup. When using this pokemon, always click taunt on any opposing stealth rockers because rocks can cripple your team. Even if Infernape dies before you can get your rocks up, as long as you keep rocks off your side of the field, the game is playable. As an example, often times against Mono-Dragon, your opponent will lead Garchomp. Against these teams, you should always lead Infernape and always taunt turn 1, even though your opponent may predict this and earthquake.
Torkoal
I have fully invested in phys def on Torkoal to wall any physical sweeper. Torkoal checks Terrakion, +1 Dragonite, Mimikyu, Mega-Altaria, Mega-Gallade, Excadrill, you name it. You just will-o-wisp their pokemon and cripple it for the rest of the game. Then, even if Torkoal dies, Volcanion or Victini can come in and survive a hit, then counter-sweep the opponent. I also have the rest-chesto berry combo that lets Torkoal heal up and body another physical threat. Clear smog is also important, as it breaks multiscale and disguise while also removing attack and speed boosts. Even if Torkoal dies, if it can cripple your opponent's big threats, your other pokemon usually have the bulk and power to beat out the rest of the opponent's team. Use Torkoal wisely in the Mono-Fighting and Mono-Dragon matchups, as well as any other matchup where your opponent has a strong physical sweeper.
Some calcs (there are other calcs I could do but this should be enough for a general idea):
252 Atk Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Torkoal: 186-222 (54 - 64.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Terrakion Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Torkoal: 124-148 (36 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Torkoal: 278-330 (80.8 - 95.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Torkoal: 186-220 (54 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
The above only applies if rocks are off the field, however. A Terrakion or boosted Dragonite can more easily 2HKO (some other threats might OHKO) Torkoal after rocks, which makes Infernape even more important. If your opponent sets up rocks, Torkoal can rapid spin them, and it still has decent bulk that can be restored with rest, but be aware that some sweepers can break through Torkoal and then your entire team with proper hazards.
Heatran
252 SpA Diancie-Mega Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Heatran: 292-348 (75.6 - 90.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Heatran: 248-296 (64.2 - 76.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
What more needs to be said?
Heatran has both good bulk and offensive power, so why not use both? It single handedly dismantles Mono-Electric teams and it bodies Fairy teams, and it otherwise functions as a good spatk-def wall. It has no regeneration, so you cannot let it take unnecessary hits, but it can take a few. Otherwise, Heatran can OHKO a lot of stuff with super effective moves.
Be careful not to drop Heatran unnecessarily during the Mono-Dragon matchup. It is very important to keep Heatran as a switch in for scarf Latios because you have nothing else to take a Draco. If Latios is in, I would almost always switch Heatran to take a hit. Then, even if the opponent switches Latios out, Heatran can land a strong flash cannon to kill or damage something significantly.
Also be careful to protect Heatran when your opponent runs Toxapex. My version of Mono-Fire has few options to kill Toxapex without Heatran. Earth power 2HKO's Toxapex and also hits a lot of other poison switch ins. This is not as good against Mono-Water, but Victini with bolt strike/zen headbutt has that matchup covered. Toxapex can wall most of this team (and honestly most of this game. I hate that mon), and Heatran is important in stopping it.
252+ SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Toxapex: 152-180 (50 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Charizard-Y
So the current Fire sample teams run Zard-X instead which is fine, but this team doesn't have heat rock Torkoal to prolong the sun, so Zard-Y gives more sun for the team. This thing also has a powerful Fire Blast that OHKO's most things that don't resist. This also gives you a more favorable matchup against Mono-Water with solar beam and sun. Also, before I forget, EARTHQUAKE IS A PERFECTLY VIABLE OPTION FOR ZARD-Y I PROMISE IT IS VERY GOOD. It kills Heatran in one shot, which basically ensures that you never lose to Mono-Steel (it's already a favorable matchup for you, but this erases any chance they have to beat you). I like to predict a heatran switch in with dragon pulse and break their balloon, then Earthquake on the following turn, and it feels so rewarding. You could run focus blast or air slash instead, but neither add that much since focus blast is unreliable and air slash is rarely better than fire blast. It's not only funny when Steel players get tilted by this but it also makes the Steel matchup extremely easy. I've never been put in a situation where I wished that I ran something else over earthquake.
I run dragon pulse instead of air slash because again, from my experience air slash doesn't add much coverage, and because Mono-Dragon is one of the most difficult matchups for this team. You might notice that I run a lot of things that counter Mono-Dragon specifically, and that's because it's been the biggest problem for me while laddering since it is relatively common. I have that matchup down to a science at this point, and it just takes some experience learning how Dragon players play to outplay your opponent.
Volcanion
This is yet another unusual set, but it works wonders. Scarf ensures that Volcanion outspeeds almost every non-scarf mon, and its natural bulk lets you take a hit against scarfers. As for its moveset, steam eruption and fire blast are just standard powerful stab moves, and solar beam makes this mon powerful against Water. HP Ice is yet another move tailored to the Mono-Dragon matchup. Quick warning though, HP Ice will not kill Garchomp or Dragonite at full or near full health. This makes stealth rocks very important at the beginning of the game with Infernape. You may want to experiment with modest Volcanion, but you become too slow to justify scarf, so it's up to you. An important opening sequence at the beginning of a game vs Mono-Dragon for you to remember is:
Lead Infernape v lead Garchomp
Taunt with Infernape to block Garchomp stealth rocks
Stealth rocks with Infernape, earthquake with Garchomp
Close combat with Infernape to take 50% off of Garchomp
This is pretty common, and will occur most of the time. This helps Volcanion sweep Mono-Dragon. Sometimes, the Dragon player will earthquake after you taunt instead of clicking stealth rock. Unfortunately, if they have a Dragonite, you have to prioritize stealth rocks over close combat. It is not unwinnable, but it will be difficult. Calcs for HP Ice are down below.
252 SpA Volcanion Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 300-356 (83.7 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Volcanion Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Dragonite: 264-312 (81.7 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Victini
I posted a very similar team earlier in the Gen 7 meta, and I ran Darmanitan over Victini. I enjoyed Darmanitan because Flare Blitz in the sun was so powerful and super power helped with the Mono-Normal matchup when stall cancer Normal was common, but sun boosted V-create does about as much damage as Flare Blitz, and Victini also helps with the Mono-Water matchup with bolt strike. Also, with Toxapex being introduced into the meta, Darmanitan became borderline useless. Even with earthquake, Darmanitan could hardly dent Water teams. Victini, however, provides a second offensive option against Toxapex along with Heatran, which improves your chances a lot. Otherwise, it just has good coverage and decent bulk that lets it take a hit or two.
Also, if it isn't too much to ask of the admins, if this team gets rejected I would like an explanation just so that I understand what kinds of teams you want for sample teams. My last one was rejected without an explanation, which I'm not upset about, but I've been curious as to why. If this team is maybe too complicated to be a sample team, or if you think it's just unviable, I'd like to know so that in the future, I can make my teams better for new players.
This is a long post, but if you read through it, thanks for looking at this team!
This is a very odd team, so I feel like I need to describe my success with this team to show it's not complete garbage. I've reached 1500 on two accounts (k43982 and Vin GT Flint) and am approaching 1500 with my current account, Vin Flint. I've peaked at 1600 and won a few Smogon Monotype tournaments using this team (or an older iteration). I've been editing and tweaking this team since early Gen 6, and this is my latest variation. Playing this team does require a certain level of skill and game sense to use, but once you get used to it, this team is very fun and rewarding to play.
I should also say that I designed this team so that you always have a chance to beat any type. I think a lot of players tend to give up on certain matchups and don't add moves or mons to counter their weak matchups so that they can strengthen their teams against neutral and favorable matchups. I understand why they do this, but I decided to try and make a team that does not lose to anything simply due to matchup. I don't think that I sacrificed too much to justify adding moves that counter my weak matchups, and I truly believe that with correct play, you can beat any team. That being said, there are still many tough matchups, and it may take some time to figure out how to win them, but given enough experience, I think that this team will be very rewarding to use.
Electric: You cannot outspeed Alolan-Raichu, and only Heatran can take hits from the Electric special attackers. But then again, Heatran can REALLY take hits from the special attackers. Use earth power to take out Tapu Koko or Raichu, and scarf Victini/Volcanion can sweep the rest.
Fighting: this is mostly difficult due to scarf Terrakion, but Torkoal is engineered specifically to beat that. Otherwise, you should have an ok time against Fighting. It should just come down to the better player.
Water: This comes down to how well you utilize your weather. Against rain teams, once you kill Pelipper you should be able to win with sun + solar beam, so I suggest using stealth rocks turn 1 to deal some residual damage to Pelipper. Zard-Y solar beam in the sun deals around 70% to most Pelipper sets, and if you can predict a Pelipper switch in dragon pulse can deal around 40% through rain, so you can often remove Pelipper early in the game. This matchup can be tough, but you have the tools to win.
Rock: Save Infernape to kill things with close combat and use Heatran to flash cannon stuff. Be careful of Terrakion and other fast sweepers (I vaguely recall shell smash Minior being a small problem), and this matchup should actually be in your favor.
Jellicent Ghost: The two most annoying mons for this team imo are Toxapex and Jellicent. Toxapex can be dealt with using tools that I will explain later, but Jellicent is another story. It has so much special bulk, and it can recover stall Zard-Y until cursed body blocks you from solar beaming the stupid jellyfish to death. With Mega-Sableye to back it up, Jellicent is a terrifying threat to this team and I honestly don't know what to do about it. If a Ghost player isn't running Jellicent though, the game should be an even, or dare I say easy, matchup.
Dragon: Mono-Dragon used to be an unwinnable matchup, but I have added a lot of tools on this team to beat it. I think I have the matchup down to a science. I will attack some replays down below, and since I don't have the stamina in my fingers to explain this all in detail, you can watch the replays to see patterns in my decision making. I will make sure to add multiple Dragon games.
Infernape @ Focus Sash
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Taunt
Heatran @ Assault Vest
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Flash Cannon
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge
Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Dragon Pulse
Volcanion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Solar Beam
Victini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bolt Strike
- V-create
- U-turn
- Zen Headbutt
Infernape
This set is just a standard suicide lead to get up rocks and taunt other rockers. Most of the time, that's all this mon is going to do. I suggest saving Infernape only when you are facing a Mono-Normal or Mono-Rock team: Normal because Infernape is your best bet against Chansey and Porygon-2 (although Victini V-Create does a lot of damage) and Mono-Rock because Close Combat is too valuable in this difficult matchup. When using this pokemon, always click taunt on any opposing stealth rockers because rocks can cripple your team. Even if Infernape dies before you can get your rocks up, as long as you keep rocks off your side of the field, the game is playable. As an example, often times against Mono-Dragon, your opponent will lead Garchomp. Against these teams, you should always lead Infernape and always taunt turn 1, even though your opponent may predict this and earthquake.
Torkoal
I have fully invested in phys def on Torkoal to wall any physical sweeper. Torkoal checks Terrakion, +1 Dragonite, Mimikyu, Mega-Altaria, Mega-Gallade, Excadrill, you name it. You just will-o-wisp their pokemon and cripple it for the rest of the game. Then, even if Torkoal dies, Volcanion or Victini can come in and survive a hit, then counter-sweep the opponent. I also have the rest-chesto berry combo that lets Torkoal heal up and body another physical threat. Clear smog is also important, as it breaks multiscale and disguise while also removing attack and speed boosts. Even if Torkoal dies, if it can cripple your opponent's big threats, your other pokemon usually have the bulk and power to beat out the rest of the opponent's team. Use Torkoal wisely in the Mono-Fighting and Mono-Dragon matchups, as well as any other matchup where your opponent has a strong physical sweeper.
Some calcs (there are other calcs I could do but this should be enough for a general idea):
252 Atk Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Torkoal: 186-222 (54 - 64.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Terrakion Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Torkoal: 124-148 (36 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Torkoal: 278-330 (80.8 - 95.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Torkoal: 186-220 (54 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
The above only applies if rocks are off the field, however. A Terrakion or boosted Dragonite can more easily 2HKO (some other threats might OHKO) Torkoal after rocks, which makes Infernape even more important. If your opponent sets up rocks, Torkoal can rapid spin them, and it still has decent bulk that can be restored with rest, but be aware that some sweepers can break through Torkoal and then your entire team with proper hazards.
Heatran
252 SpA Diancie-Mega Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Heatran: 292-348 (75.6 - 90.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Heatran: 248-296 (64.2 - 76.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
What more needs to be said?
Heatran has both good bulk and offensive power, so why not use both? It single handedly dismantles Mono-Electric teams and it bodies Fairy teams, and it otherwise functions as a good spatk-def wall. It has no regeneration, so you cannot let it take unnecessary hits, but it can take a few. Otherwise, Heatran can OHKO a lot of stuff with super effective moves.
Be careful not to drop Heatran unnecessarily during the Mono-Dragon matchup. It is very important to keep Heatran as a switch in for scarf Latios because you have nothing else to take a Draco. If Latios is in, I would almost always switch Heatran to take a hit. Then, even if the opponent switches Latios out, Heatran can land a strong flash cannon to kill or damage something significantly.
Also be careful to protect Heatran when your opponent runs Toxapex. My version of Mono-Fire has few options to kill Toxapex without Heatran. Earth power 2HKO's Toxapex and also hits a lot of other poison switch ins. This is not as good against Mono-Water, but Victini with bolt strike/zen headbutt has that matchup covered. Toxapex can wall most of this team (and honestly most of this game. I hate that mon), and Heatran is important in stopping it.
252+ SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Toxapex: 152-180 (50 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Charizard-Y
So the current Fire sample teams run Zard-X instead which is fine, but this team doesn't have heat rock Torkoal to prolong the sun, so Zard-Y gives more sun for the team. This thing also has a powerful Fire Blast that OHKO's most things that don't resist. This also gives you a more favorable matchup against Mono-Water with solar beam and sun. Also, before I forget, EARTHQUAKE IS A PERFECTLY VIABLE OPTION FOR ZARD-Y I PROMISE IT IS VERY GOOD. It kills Heatran in one shot, which basically ensures that you never lose to Mono-Steel (it's already a favorable matchup for you, but this erases any chance they have to beat you). I like to predict a heatran switch in with dragon pulse and break their balloon, then Earthquake on the following turn, and it feels so rewarding. You could run focus blast or air slash instead, but neither add that much since focus blast is unreliable and air slash is rarely better than fire blast. It's not only funny when Steel players get tilted by this but it also makes the Steel matchup extremely easy. I've never been put in a situation where I wished that I ran something else over earthquake.
I run dragon pulse instead of air slash because again, from my experience air slash doesn't add much coverage, and because Mono-Dragon is one of the most difficult matchups for this team. You might notice that I run a lot of things that counter Mono-Dragon specifically, and that's because it's been the biggest problem for me while laddering since it is relatively common. I have that matchup down to a science at this point, and it just takes some experience learning how Dragon players play to outplay your opponent.
Volcanion
This is yet another unusual set, but it works wonders. Scarf ensures that Volcanion outspeeds almost every non-scarf mon, and its natural bulk lets you take a hit against scarfers. As for its moveset, steam eruption and fire blast are just standard powerful stab moves, and solar beam makes this mon powerful against Water. HP Ice is yet another move tailored to the Mono-Dragon matchup. Quick warning though, HP Ice will not kill Garchomp or Dragonite at full or near full health. This makes stealth rocks very important at the beginning of the game with Infernape. You may want to experiment with modest Volcanion, but you become too slow to justify scarf, so it's up to you. An important opening sequence at the beginning of a game vs Mono-Dragon for you to remember is:
Lead Infernape v lead Garchomp
Taunt with Infernape to block Garchomp stealth rocks
Stealth rocks with Infernape, earthquake with Garchomp
Close combat with Infernape to take 50% off of Garchomp
This is pretty common, and will occur most of the time. This helps Volcanion sweep Mono-Dragon. Sometimes, the Dragon player will earthquake after you taunt instead of clicking stealth rock. Unfortunately, if they have a Dragonite, you have to prioritize stealth rocks over close combat. It is not unwinnable, but it will be difficult. Calcs for HP Ice are down below.
252 SpA Volcanion Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 300-356 (83.7 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Volcanion Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Dragonite: 264-312 (81.7 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Victini
I posted a very similar team earlier in the Gen 7 meta, and I ran Darmanitan over Victini. I enjoyed Darmanitan because Flare Blitz in the sun was so powerful and super power helped with the Mono-Normal matchup when stall cancer Normal was common, but sun boosted V-create does about as much damage as Flare Blitz, and Victini also helps with the Mono-Water matchup with bolt strike. Also, with Toxapex being introduced into the meta, Darmanitan became borderline useless. Even with earthquake, Darmanitan could hardly dent Water teams. Victini, however, provides a second offensive option against Toxapex along with Heatran, which improves your chances a lot. Otherwise, it just has good coverage and decent bulk that lets it take a hit or two.
Also, if it isn't too much to ask of the admins, if this team gets rejected I would like an explanation just so that I understand what kinds of teams you want for sample teams. My last one was rejected without an explanation, which I'm not upset about, but I've been curious as to why. If this team is maybe too complicated to be a sample team, or if you think it's just unviable, I'd like to know so that in the future, I can make my teams better for new players.
This is a long post, but if you read through it, thanks for looking at this team!
k43982, I believe this is the second time you have submitted this same team, or a close copy of your original submission, which was ultimately rejected for the Sample Team archive. Tyke didn't explain why your submission was rejected originally, so that may be why you submitted this team again, but it simply isn't up to the standards of what a team for anyone learning Monotype or a new type for the first time should be. I would suggest utilizing Smogon's Pokedex for these Pokemon and read into the set descriptions as to why each option is utilized, that way you know what options are important for Fire as a type and can hopefully submit an acceptable team in the future. If any analyses are missing for a Pokemon you want to look into, please pm myself, Tyke, or any of Monotype's room staff on PS! and I'm sure they'd be happy to lend a hand in your team building. You can also post your team in the Monotype room's chat via Pokepaste and people will chip in and offer some advice.
Sableye-Mega @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 116 Def / 144 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Foul Play / Protect
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
Gonna keep this short and snappy.
Gengar is the speed control of this team, holding a choice scarf and Trick allowing it to cripple many of its usual switch ins such as Chansey or Mantine. Mimikyu is a Pokemon found on every Ghost team that blanket checks many threats with Disguise while also making Dark and Dragon much easier due to being part Fairy. Blacephalon has found its way onto Ghost teams as an offensive threat. This Blacephalon holds a Choice Specs to furthur bump up its wallbreaking power, and like Scarf Gengar also carries Trick to cripple Chansey, Mantine, etc. Alolan Marowak sets Rocks, wallbreaks, switches into Electric attacks, breaks stuff with Fire. Mega Sableye offers a Dark neutrality, utility in the form of Knock Off, Will-O-Wisp and Magic Bounce. Decidueye is used for Defog support, hence preventing playstyles such as Webs Fairy and hazard stack from overcoming the Ghost team. Decidueye also traps + gets rid of threats such SD + Roost + Shackle, trapping and setting up on something such as Hazeless Toxapex.
Thunderbolt over Trick on Gengar for Water and Flying types such as Mantine, Toxapex, Celesteela, and Mega Aerodactyl.
Ghostium Z over Farium Z on Mimikyu to gain many more neutral hits with its Z Move but hitting significantly weaker. May be noted that it helps in some matchups such as Steel or Poison.
Bonemerang over Earthquake on Alolan Marowak to break Galvantula and Alolan Golem's Sash while as hard. Has a chance to miss, and should be careful as it can miss when its not supposed to.
Psychic over Trick on Blacephalon to hit Poison-types such as Toxapex and Mega Venusaur harder.
Protect over Foul Play on Mega Sableye to predict choice locked opponents while also works in conjunction with Will-O-Wisp to let burn wear opposing Pokemon down more.
I have a few edits to suggest for the Ice sample team:
Rotom-F > Lapras: Rotom-F is also capable of wearing down and eventually beating Mega Scizor due to its access to Will-O-Wisp, while also offering a bulky pivot, which is especially nice for HO Ice. The team shouldn't need extra support in the Water matchup regardless. Here's the Rotom-F set:
Naive>Rash on Kyurem-B: Kyurem-B needs to be able to outspeed Nidoking, Vincune, and Krookodile before they can either set up Stealth Rock or get up a Substitute. Rash isn't netting any particularly notable KOs anyway.
31 HP IVs > 0 HP IVs on Mamoswine: Mamoswine really benefits from the extra bulk in the scenario that its Focus Sash breaks and it needs to survive a hit:
I'm not sold on it's ability to 1v1 Scizor-M or even whittle it down; SD sets can just use the opportunity to set up further, and Rotom-Frost carries even more risk than Lapras / Walrein to let Heatran in (although that may also be an opportunity to bop balloon).
Dugtrio's set has Sand Veil, and I'd run Jolly Nature on Excadrill. Gastrodon should run Earth Power over Earthquake, since Sub CM Keldeo is dead. Replace your Dugtrio set with this spread:
I don't think you can fit both Celesteela and Stakataka on the same Hyper Offensive Squad. You may just need to pick your matchups. Instead I'd consider using Bisharp to dissuade defoggers.
But right now the biggest problem with this team is that it simply can't break Poison, or even Water.
I don't think Aerial Ace is valuable on Mega Aerodactyl; run Stealth Rock over it to free up Lando-I to use Knock Off. I would also advise the Defog Zapdos set, since 1 defog flying is pretty risky.
The special assault vest set makes no sense on Flying; it's useful on Steel because it is very difficult for Ground to play around with Giga Drain and HP Ice, but Flying does not require that offensive utility. I'd replace Celesteela with Hawlucha.
Double Edge > Stone Edge on Aerodactyl.
I'm not sold on Fight-Z Thundurus Therian. You don't want a Thundurus set walled by Lando. Run HP Ice.
Landorus-I uses Rock Slide, but has a Timid Nature. I don't understand Z-move Dragonite on this team. The team has no Zapdos, and Taunt Gliscor doesn't even beat Normal anymore with Porygon-Z around.
Since the above Mega Aerodactyl submission is better, this team is rejected.
I feel that the Rock team needs a few edits now that Alolan Golem has been placed over Rhyperior. Without Rhyperior the team becomes a lot weaker to Scarf Lando-T, which Rhyperior was the only reliable answer for on the team. Some ways to fix this without removing Alolan Golem are:
Making Nihilego Choice Scarf: Not having Choice Scarf Terrakion sucks a lot, but Choice Scarf Nihilego still has its select amount of threats that it can revenge kill. Since Power Gem still isn't needed, it can also make room for Toxic Spikes to wear down Azumarill in the Fairy matchup, which is especially nice when paired with Alolan Golem to trap Klefki. However, the opportunity cost of Scarf Terrakion is still very present.
Replacing Nihilego with Cradily: Physically defensive Cradily can switch into and avoid a 2HKO from Choice Scarf Lando-T, while still serving as a nice switch-in to Water type attacks.
Also, the Alolan Golem set itself also needs revising. It needs to run Jolly in order to outspeed Excadrill after Sticky Web, which can be especially important for the Ground matchup. It isn't missing out on anything too crucial by foregoing Adamant anyways, so it shouldn't matter that much. It also needs Brick Break over Stone Edge so that it can consistently break Klefki's screens after trapping it. Stone Edge is useless, since the only reason you use Alolan Golem is to trap Steels.
Golem-Alola @ Choice Band
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wild Charge
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Brick Break
I think Rock STAB has value on Golem-A now that it can run Choice Band, serving as powerful STAB in matchups where it's trapping utility isn't necessary. Brick Break's value is questionable at best; given locking yourself into Brick Break is giving Azumarill that free Switch in, now that you are Choice locked.
Heatran @ Assault Vest
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Flash Cannon
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge
Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Dragon Pulse
Volcanion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Solar Beam
Victini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bolt Strike
- V-create
- U-turn
- Zen Headbutt
Also, if it isn't too much to ask of the admins, if this team gets rejected I would like an explanation just so that I understand what kinds of teams you want for sample teams. My last one was rejected without an explanation, which I'm not upset about, but I've been curious as to why. If this team is maybe too complicated to be a sample team, or if you think it's just unviable, I'd like to know so that in the future, I can make my teams better for new players.
I apologize for not giving my full reasoning for rejecting your team at the time; I had a large load of submissions to review at the time. Illama basically nailed it, however.
The purpose of the Sample Team Project is to provide samples that are representative of the Monotype Metagame for new players to use, build off of, and learn from. Your team was not representative of the meta; being built around highly situational (and ineffective) sets. It required far too many changes and revisions to consider as a sample.
I encourage you to take illama's advice to utilize the resources already available for new players; The Smogdex, the existing Samples, the RMT forum, and the Monotype Chatroom! If you have any further questions feel free to PM me here or on Showdown
I have been using the ice team a fair bit and one change that I have found that I have liked a lot is switching lapras to cloyster, specifically:
Cloyster @ White Herb
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Shell Smash
- Liquidation
- Icicle Spear
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Largely because of the matchup with fighting and steel, because you now have a legitimate win condition. The coverage and the resistances are exactly the same as lapras, so that parts pretty easy.
Against steel, I like it because I find that whenever Im playing steel, its functionally impossible to keep stealth rock off of the field. Given that lapras has to switch in and out a lot due to being choice locked, its just way too hard to punch the necessary holes with it, and as soon as lapras goes down, scizor is sweeping you. Cloyster has a suprisingly easy time setting up against steel.
Against fighting, whom lapras is functionally worthless against, cloyster's sky high physical bulk lets it set up against nearly everything, just barely outspeeds scarf terrakion at plus 2, and is again a legitimate win condition if you can get the opponents keldeo out of the way.
Basically the two do similar things but cloyster fits the veil hyper offense playstyle way way better.
Stakataka - Stakataka is a powerful tr sweeper that can switch in on weak attacks and set up TR to use its three moves in Gyro Ball, Earthquake, and Stone Edge to eliminate opposing Pokemon. IT runs 15 IV's in defense and runs a lonely nature in order for Beast Boost to Boost attack. It also runs no speed investment with 0 Iv's to assure that it outspeeds almost every Pokemon in the game under TR. It uses Rockium Z in order to Nuke walls like Celesteela so that it can sweep the rest of the team without being stopped.
Skarmory - Skarmory is the suicide lead of this team and uses Weak armor to take advantage of physical attacks to get a good speed boost off of them. Skarm also utilizes a sash so that it is able to get at least one hazard down on the field, and it also bypasses Turboblaze/Mold Breaker. Brave Bird is the main STAB move that can be used to KO skarm so that hazards stay on the field against slow rapid spinners like Armaldo. Spikes and Stealth Rock allow Skarmory to stack as many hazards as possible to make it easier for the opposing team's mons to get KO'd. Taunt allows skarmory to prevent getting set up on and to stop slower taunters from stopping it from hazard setting. Max speed is used in order to outspeed any slower setup sweepers so that Taunt can be used effectively. 252 HP is used to maximize Skarm's bulk against opposing attacks so that it can place as many hazards as possible.
Jirachi - Jirachi is the teams way of dealing with water and poison better, as it can setup Substitute and proceed to use Calm Mind on Pokemon like Toxapex or Mega-venusaur so that it can ease the pressure in these MU's. Jirachi runs Psychic and Thunderbolt to cover water and poison types specifically and is also decent coverage. Jirachi uses max speed EVs and max special attack EVs in order to maximize its sweeping potential. It uses leftovers as a way of passive recovery as substitute takes away a chunk of health.
Scizor-Mega - Scizor-mega is a powerful priority sweeper that uses Technician boosted Bullet Punch as its main way of plowing through teams. It uses the standard Swords dance and three attacks set as the team has a more offensive presence. Superpower is for breaking through opposing Stakataka's and bulkier steel mons. Bug Bite is used as its alternative hard hitting STAB move that is also boosted by Technician, it can hit walls like Mega-Venusaur relatively hard after a Swords Dance. Scizor uses Light metal as its pre-mega ability to reduce damage from moves like Low Kick and the like.
Heatran - A staple on steel teams, its immunity to fire is invaluable. On this team it runs an Air balloon in order to switch in on choice locked Earthquake users, and uses Magma Storm to trap enemy walls or support mons. Earth power and stone edge are used as coverage against opposing fire types like Volcarona, Charizard-Y, and Torkoal. Taunt is used to prevent enemy walls from recovering health or use any other support move that would make its situation easier. IT runs max speed and special attack in order to hit its threats hard and fast with 24 Ev's in attack in order to KO volcarona and Char-y with stone edge as mentioned before.
Bisharp - Bisharp is used in tandem with Hazard stack Skarmory to disuade defoggers from clearing hazards as it will activate defiant and get a free Swords Dance boost from its evasiveness being lowered. It runs Life Orb in order to maximize damage against the opponent with both its STAB moves and to maximize Sucker Punch damage. Swords Dance is used to further increase Bisharps power in the event that it successfully switches in on a mon like scarfed latios using defog, giving it no choice but to switch out, allowing it to set up again and threaten more of the opposing team. Iron head and Knock off are both good STAB moves that provide great neutral coverage, which allows Bisharp to hit many walls very hard after a Swords Dance boost.
Stakataka @ Rockium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Lonely Nature
IVs: 15 Def / 0 Spe
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Gyro Ball
- Trick Room
Mamoswine was the centerpoint for this team; being able to effectively chunk many mons with not only a very solid offensive typing in Ground/Ice, but paired with Choice Band, provides a tremendous amount of offensive pressure.
Seismitoad was an obvious next pick, being a natural water resist to deal with mons like Azumarill and Greninja. The set is self-explanitory, however the speed has been raised to match 219, as a countermeasure to the rising popularity of Jolly Azumarill.
Hippowdon, again self explanitory, being a weather/hazard setter, fazer, and overall very defensively bulky.
Excadrill, the other part of the Sand Core, has a similar spread but instead is LO with SD. For unsuspecting opponents, it grants a free setup opportunity and provides further offensive pressure on the opponent. However, SD can be exchanged for Rapid Spin for better hazard control.
Landorus-I is a must, having the role of Gravity + EP Spam, which chunks or 2OHKOes many of the tier's best mons, granted the right situation. Bringing down Celesteela is also a plus, being the best defensive counter to many Ground teams without it.
Dugtrio fills out the last slot as a trapper, mainly for Tapu Bulu when at full, then can be sacked off to allow Mamoswine to revenge kill. Being able to trap Celesteela under Gravity, Raichu-A, Chansey, and others under similar situations makes an invaluable trade off mon.
Aiit this team is really bulky, aside from terrakion, every mon has evs in HP stat.
Stakataka is the center piece of this team. With it's addition rock gained a powerful sweeper and TR setter and also a scizor check. Lonely nature and 15 def evs are ran so that you get attack boost after a kill. Rockium-Z is ran as it covers most defensive walls (celeestela, pex, venusaur, mew, slowbro,scizor), but Fightium-Z or Groundium-Z(if you choose to run EQ) are also viable.
Diancie is the second sweeper and TR setter. It goes without saying that its amazing vs fighting and dark teams. Life orb maximizes its damage output but at the cost of survivabilty. Alternative items include, but are not limited to: Weakness policy/Expert belt/pixie plate
Tyranitar is a wall breaker and weather setter . Sand is very much welcome in this team as the team lacks any spD evs and it eases the matchups againts rain a bit. It's speed evs make it outspeed most walls, but they can be removed and added to HP to function better under TR.
Full(almost) defense invested Carracosta is there to take physical attacks as best as it can. It's typing and solid rock ability is great against ground, steel, water and steel matchups. The spA evs are there so that you can 2hko (mega)scizor before it sets up on you as it is a MASSIVE threat. Toxic is needed to break walls and prevent setup from the likes of dragonite and azumarill which you can otherwise barely touch. Protect is there for the much needed recovery and to rack up toxic/burn/sand damage on your oponnent(it can also get them juicy HJK crashes). Feel free to run this Rhyperior set tho, as it is generaly a better phys wall, but its utterly useless againts water teams.
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Atk / 236 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Protect
- Counter/Ice Punch/Toxic
Bulky Aerodactly is the 2nd physical "wall". It has nice synergy with carracosta as it has ground immunity and it's typing is neutral to grass and fighting attacks. Aqua tail offers better synergy with wing attack, but I prefer to run ice fang as mons such as gliscor,garchomp and landorus are a pain in the ass and i want to get rid of em asap. Taunt is there to mainly prevent recovery and defog and can outright make some pokemon useless againts aerr od any other teammembers, potentialy opening a hole for a TR sweep(ex: taunted ceelestela/ferrothorn are a setup fodder for staka). 72 speed evs enable it to outspeed max+ speed 111(thundrus) mons.
Terrrakion is the other form of speed control and a sweeper/cleaner that doesnt need TR. Very crucial againts some matchups. It is the only mon that can reliably 2HKO porygon2 and chansey. The last 2 moves on terrakion are pretty free, so I decided to put poison jab as tapu bulu is another MASSIVE threat, and rocks, for which I struggled to find a moveslot on any other teammember, despite all of them learning it.
Since Azumarill traps and removes passive walls, such as Ferrothorn and opposing Toxapex, the team didn't really need a wallbreaker like Keldeo. Those that are immune to Azumarill's Whirlpool like Gastrodon and Cradily are dealt with by Toxapex's Toxic Spikes. Baneful Bunker is mainly used against dangerous Pokémon like Diggersby and Tapu Koko with Choice items to know which move they'll be locked into. It also poisons opposing Pokémons when used just before a contact move, and stalls opposing teams while racking Toxic/poison damage. Mantine acts as another switch-in to special attackers or Azumarill's trapped target, such as boosted Volcarona, on the last Perish Song turn. M-Swampert sets up SR and completes the defensive backbone of this team, while Greninja is used for speed control and pivoting purposes, and Gyarados serves as the team's sweeper and answer to Poison and Grass teams (Azumarill also helps a lot in the latter mu).
(All replays used Haze Toxapex and Toxic Mantine (before the edit))
Infernape @ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Mach Punch
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Taunt
I know that a very similar Fire team was suggested about two months ago, but I firmly believe this team would be a much better addition to the sample teams thread.
Basically, the only differences between those two teams are the sets for Blacephalon and Infernape. The team I propose uses Blacephalon, not Infernape, as the team's speed control, and Infernape as the team's wallbreaker instead of Blacephalon. This lets Blacephalon outspeed and OHKO Scarf Landurs-T with HP Ice, and use Psyshock instead of Trick as its final move to revenge kill Scarf Nihilego from full and relieve pressure from M-ZardX and Heatran in the Poison mu. Indeed, Trick isn't needed, since CB Infernape can deal with problematic mu forTrick-less Scarf Blacephalon like Normal, Dark and Rock, especially when Infernape has Mach Punch, which also relieves pressure from Blacephalon and the rest of the team when outspeeding the opponent is crucial (against Scarf Terrakion or Greninja for example). As for the team as a whole, M-ZardX and Blacephalon are two nice sweepers that, when backed up by Rotom-H's screens and Volt Switch, can inflict terrible damage upon the opposing team. Torkoal is pretty much mandatory for any serious Fire team (SR + Rapid Spin + Sun + physical bulk + ... ) and Heatran is the team's stallbreaker that deals with some annoying walls like Toxapex and Mandibuzz. Oh and unless Meloetta's still alive, Scarf Blacephalon destroys Psychic (which fsr I face every other game) on its own behind screens.
Sableye-Mega @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SpD
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Recover
- Knock Off
Run protect over foul play. It's redundant because Gourgeist-Super has foul play. Protect is good because it guarantees a mega to protect this team from hazards.
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 48 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 204 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Fire Punch / Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
The main problem Balanced Ghost have is not being able to break other walls. With Swords Dance and Flare Blitz this isn't a problem. Swords Dance over Earthquake because earthquake is only used in against Heatran which ghost shouldn't be scared of because of Jellicent, Tyranitar which no one would switch Tyranitar against marowak because it's a vital with the rock match up and the dark matchup (because Mega tyranitar can sweep or pursuit trapping) and toxapex which fears +2 Shadow Bone.
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 235-277 (77.3 - 91.1%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and burn damage
Swords Dance unwalls Marowak-Alola from Mega Venusaur at +2
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 252 HP / 212+ Def Venusaur-Mega: 282-333 (77.4 - 91.4%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Staraptor +2
+1 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Fire Punch vs. 240 HP / 252+ Def Staraptor: 262-309 (70.6 - 83.2%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
Porygon2 +2 (eviolite knocked off)
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Porygon2: 298-352 (79.6 - 94.1%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Flare Blitz at +2 ohkos all 3 threats without hazards besides Porygon2 with eviolite and stealth with stealth rocks is a roll.
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 212+ Def Thick Fat Venusaur-Mega: 398-470 (109.3 - 129.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Flare Blitz vs. 240 HP / 252+ Def Staraptor: 418-493 (112.6 - 132.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Porygon2: 319-376 (85.2 - 100.5%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
I personally like Flare Blitz better, but recoil wears it down. You would spam shadow bone like normal and gives marowaks fire move a secondary use besides dealing with steel and what not. Either one works (I know slashs aren't really welcomed but there are some in the new samples so I thought it was alright)
Offensive Ghost
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake / Bonemerang
- Stealth Rock
- Shadow Bone
Small EV fix 208 > 212 because of stealth rock damage.
Both Bug Samples
Armaldo @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 168 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
Using the Sample set that was suggested from the Monotype part of Smogon. (While I'm at why is the main set suggests 252 evs yet the alternative suggests 248 evs) https://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/pokemon/armaldo/monotype/
Sableye-Mega @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SpD
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Recover
- Knock Off
Run protect over foul play. It's redundant because Gourgeist-Super has foul play. Protect is good because it guarantees a mega to protect this team from hazards.
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 48 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 204 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Fire Punch / Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
The main problem Balanced Ghost have is not being able to break other walls. With Swords Dance and Flare Blitz this isn't a problem. Swords Dance over Earthquake because earthquake is only used in against Heatran which ghost shouldn't be scared of because of Jellicent, Tyranitar which no one would switch Tyranitar against marowak because it's a vital with the rock match up and the dark matchup (because Mega tyranitar can sweep or pursuit trapping) and toxapex which fears +2 Shadow Bone.
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 235-277 (77.3 - 91.1%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and burn damage
Swords Dance unwalls Marowak-Alola from Mega Venusaur at +2
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 252 HP / 212+ Def Venusaur-Mega: 282-333 (77.4 - 91.4%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Staraptor +2
+1 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Fire Punch vs. 240 HP / 252+ Def Staraptor: 262-309 (70.6 - 83.2%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
Porygon2 +2 (eviolite knocked off)
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Porygon2: 298-352 (79.6 - 94.1%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Flare Blitz at +2 ohkos all 3 threats without hazards besides Porygon2 with eviolite and stealth with stealth rocks is a roll.
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 212+ Def Thick Fat Venusaur-Mega: 398-470 (109.3 - 129.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Flare Blitz vs. 240 HP / 252+ Def Staraptor: 418-493 (112.6 - 132.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Porygon2: 319-376 (85.2 - 100.5%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
I personally like Flare Blitz better, but recoil wears it down. You would spam shadow bone like normal and gives marowaks fire move a secondary use besides dealing with steel and what not. Either one works (I know slashs aren't really welcomed but there are some in the new samples so I thought it was alright)
Offensive Ghost
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake / Bonemerang
- Stealth Rock
- Shadow Bone
Small EV fix 208 > 212 because of stealth rock damage.
Both Bug Samples
Armaldo @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 168 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
Using the Sample set that was suggested from the Monotype part of Smogon. (While I'm at why is the main set suggests 252 evs yet the alternative suggests 248 evs) https://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/pokemon/armaldo/monotype/
Every single one of the "optimal" EVs against hazards is incorrect and should not be implemented. These Pokemon are 2x weak to Rock, which means they take 25% of their HP in damage. 25% is 0.25x max HP, which means to minimize Stealth Rock damage, you would avoid having your HP be divisible by 4. In the case of Alolan Marowak, 212 HP EVs gives it a total of 314 HP, which is not divisible by 4. 252 HP EVs for Armaldo puts it at 354, which is also not divisible by 4. 252 HP EVs for Mantine puts it at 374, which is, again, not divisible by 4.
The only Pokemon for which you would normally be correct is Zapdos, where 252 HP EVs puts it at 384. However, you're of course still wrong here for two reasons. First, on Substitute sets, you want to maximize the Substitute health, so you would put yourself at 384 on purpose to gain that 1 extra point of HP. Second, on all Zapdos sets, you should notice that 384 is divisible by 16. This means you gain 1 more point of Leftovers recovery compared to at 383. This 1 extra point of Leftovers recovery almost always accounts for the 1 extra point of Stealth Rock damage. The only time it doesn't is if you give Zapdos a free switch into Stealth Rock and then immediately switch out. With each turn you stay in and get Leftovers recovery, the more efficient having 384 HP is. So not only is 384 already optimal, it is actually almost infinitely better than 383.
A lot of these samples are pretty outdated, so I'll leave this wall of suggestions:
Mega Scizor Offensive Bug and Mega Pinsir Hyper Offensive Bug
Change Armaldo's spread to 248 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD with Careful. If the intent is to always avoid an OHKO from Choice Scarf Victini's V-Create, then this spread does it better than the initial one
Offensive Electric
Taunt>Dazzling Gleam on Tapu Koko: Taunt can make sure that defensive mons like Chansey and Porygon2 stay at low health unable to recover. Without Choice Specs, Dazzling Gleam isn't really gonna be helpful against any Dragon.
Air Balloon>Choice Specs on Magnezone: This change helps mostly with the Steel matchup, since it can 100% switch into and beat Scarf Excadrill, which is especially nice for Tapu Koko.
Offensive Fighting
Pursuit>Knock Off on Heracross: Being able to trap Latios and -1 Victini is pretty important for the Psychic matchup. Knock Off isn't really that helpful since it's mostly gonna be using Megahorn as its main offensive move against Psychic, and Mega Sableye switches into it easily on Ghost. You also already have it on Mega Gallade anyway
Mega Charizard Y Offensive Fire
Blacephalon>Volcarona: The team struggles quite a bit with Dragon, specifically Garchomp and Dragonite, and Blacephalon does a nice job of remedying that. For the set itself, Choice Scarf would work best for the team to maintain the pressure against Psychic that Volcarona had.
Choice Band>Choice Scarf Infernape: To go with the Blacephalon suggestion, Infernape's set should be changed to Choice Band as a means of improving matchups like Normal and Dark. The set would be the same as the Scarf one, but with Mach Punch instead of Earthquake.
Mega Charizard X Fire
Rotom-H>Victini: Rotom-H is much more important on this team than the Zard Y team because on this team it supports 2 setup sweepers with its screens. Double hazard removal is also really nice for Volcarona. In all honesty, Rotom-H could have also replaced Volcarona and had Victini run Z-Celebrate, but Volcarona is generallly the better setup sweeper, so Victini is more expendable.
Balance and Mega Aerodactyl Flying
Change Mantine's HP to 252: 374 isn't divisible by 4, so it isn't taking extra Stealth Rock damage.
This is more exclusive to the Balance Flying team, but remove the SpD investment on Skarmory. There isn't anything relevant that the 32 SpD lets it live, so it's best to just invest it fully into HP.
Offensive Ghost
Change Decidueye's spread to 252 HP / 100 Def / 60 SpD / 96 Spe with a Careful nature. This spread allows it to always avoid a 2HKO from Excadrill, and the Attack investment isn't really improving its offensive presence that much.
This applies to both Ghost teams, but change Alolan Marowak's spread to 28 HP / 252 Atk / 228 Speed with Jolly. This allows it to outspeed Mega Venusaur and Mantine, which is especially nice since Alolan Marowak can 2HKO Mantine.
Offensive Rock
This is tiny, but Cradily needs 48 Speed to outspeed Azumarill under Sticky Web. 44 Speed is a tie
A lot of these samples are pretty outdated, so I'll leave this wall of suggestions:
Mega Scizor Offensive Bug and Mega Pinsir Hyper Offensive Bug
Change Armaldo's spread to 248 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD with Careful. If the intent is to always avoid an OHKO from Choice Scarf Victini's V-Create, then this spread does it better than the initial one
Offensive Electric
Taunt>Dazzling Gleam on Tapu Koko: Taunt can make sure that defensive mons like Chansey and Porygon2 stay at low health unable to recover. Without Choice Specs, Dazzling Gleam isn't really gonna be helpful against any Dragon.
Air Balloon>Choice Specs on Magnezone: This change helps mostly with the Steel matchup, since it can 100% switch into and beat Scarf Excadrill, which is especially nice for Tapu Koko.
Offensive Fighting
Pursuit>Knock Off on Heracross: Being able to trap Latios and -1 Victini is pretty important for the Psychic matchup. Knock Off isn't really that helpful since it's mostly gonna be using Megahorn as its main offensive move against Psychic, and Mega Sableye switches into it easily on Ghost. You also already have it on Mega Gallade anyway
Mega Charizard Y Offensive Fire
Blacephalon>Volcarona: The team struggles quite a bit with Dragon, specifically Garchomp and Dragonite, and Blacephalon does a nice job of remedying that. For the set itself, Choice Scarf would work best for the team to maintain the pressure against Psychic that Volcarona had.
Choice Band>Choice Scarf Infernape: To go with the Blacephalon suggestion, Infernape's set should be changed to Choice Band as a means of improving matchups like Normal and Dark. The set would be the same as the Scarf one, but with Mach Punch instead of Earthquake.
Mega Charizard X Fire
Rotom-H>Victini: Rotom-H is much more important on this team than the Zard Y team because on this team it supports 2 setup sweepers with its screens. Double hazard removal is also really nice for Volcarona. In all honesty, Rotom-H could have also replaced Volcarona and had Victini run Z-Celebrate, but Volcarona is generallly the better setup sweeper, so Victini is more expendable.
Balance and Mega Aerodactyl Flying
Change Mantine's HP to 252: 374 isn't divisible by 4, so it isn't taking extra Stealth Rock damage.
This is more exclusive to the Balance Flying team, but remove the SpD investment on Skarmory. There isn't anything relevant that the 32 SpD lets it live, so it's best to just invest it fully into HP.
Offensive Ghost
Change Decidueye's spread to 252 HP / 100 Def / 60 SpD / 96 Spe with a Careful nature. This spread allows it to always avoid a 2HKO from Excadrill, and the Attack investment isn't really improving its offensive presence that much.
This applies to both Ghost teams, but change Alolan Marowak's spread to 28 HP / 252 Atk / 228 Speed with Jolly. This allows it to outspeed Mega Venusaur and Mantine, which is especially nice since Alolan Marowak can 2HKO Mantine.
Offensive Rock
This is tiny, but Cradily needs 48 Speed to outspeed Azumarill under Sticky Web. 44 Speed is a tie
Implemented, the changes suggested to the Flying (minus the skarmory evs, 224 HP evs is for leftovers healing to work best with sturdy), Ghost, Rock, and Fighting teams.
In regards to your Fire suggestions, your changes are large enough I'd suggest simply submitting new teams altogether.
A lot of these samples are pretty outdated, so I'll leave this wall of suggestions:
Mega Scizor Offensive Bug and Mega Pinsir Hyper Offensive Bug
Change Armaldo's spread to 248 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD with Careful. If the intent is to always avoid an OHKO from Choice Scarf Victini's V-Create, then this spread does it better than the initial one
Offensive Electric
Taunt>Dazzling Gleam on Tapu Koko: Taunt can make sure that defensive mons like Chansey and Porygon2 stay at low health unable to recover. Without Choice Specs, Dazzling Gleam isn't really gonna be helpful against any Dragon.
Air Balloon>Choice Specs on Magnezone: This change helps mostly with the Steel matchup, since it can 100% switch into and beat Scarf Excadrill, which is especially nice for Tapu Koko.
Offensive Fighting
Pursuit>Knock Off on Heracross: Being able to trap Latios and -1 Victini is pretty important for the Psychic matchup. Knock Off isn't really that helpful since it's mostly gonna be using Megahorn as its main offensive move against Psychic, and Mega Sableye switches into it easily on Ghost. You also already have it on Mega Gallade anyway
Mega Charizard Y Offensive Fire
Blacephalon>Volcarona: The team struggles quite a bit with Dragon, specifically Garchomp and Dragonite, and Blacephalon does a nice job of remedying that. For the set itself, Choice Scarf would work best for the team to maintain the pressure against Psychic that Volcarona had.
Choice Band>Choice Scarf Infernape: To go with the Blacephalon suggestion, Infernape's set should be changed to Choice Band as a means of improving matchups like Normal and Dark. The set would be the same as the Scarf one, but with Mach Punch instead of Earthquake.
Mega Charizard X Fire
Rotom-H>Victini: Rotom-H is much more important on this team than the Zard Y team because on this team it supports 2 setup sweepers with its screens. Double hazard removal is also really nice for Volcarona. In all honesty, Rotom-H could have also replaced Volcarona and had Victini run Z-Celebrate, but Volcarona is generallly the better setup sweeper, so Victini is more expendable.
Balance and Mega Aerodactyl Flying
Change Mantine's HP to 252: 374 isn't divisible by 4, so it isn't taking extra Stealth Rock damage.
This is more exclusive to the Balance Flying team, but remove the SpD investment on Skarmory. There isn't anything relevant that the 32 SpD lets it live, so it's best to just invest it fully into HP.
Offensive Ghost
Change Decidueye's spread to 252 HP / 100 Def / 60 SpD / 96 Spe with a Careful nature. This spread allows it to always avoid a 2HKO from Excadrill, and the Attack investment isn't really improving its offensive presence that much.
This applies to both Ghost teams, but change Alolan Marowak's spread to 28 HP / 252 Atk / 228 Speed with Jolly. This allows it to outspeed Mega Venusaur and Mantine, which is especially nice since Alolan Marowak can 2HKO Mantine.
Offensive Rock
This is tiny, but Cradily needs 48 Speed to outspeed Azumarill under Sticky Web. 44 Speed is a tie
I have some suggestions of my own for your suggestions:
For the Bug teams, a spread of 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SpD for Armaldo would be more optimal as it leaves it slightly bulky on the special side while still surviving Victini's V-Create. Additionally, 252 HP EVs don't change SR damage on Armaldo (354 isn't divisible by 4).
252 Atk Victini V-create vs. 252 HP / 88 Def Armaldo: 225-265 (63.5 - 74.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
As for the Rock team, Cradily actually only needs 44 Speed EVs to outspeed Azumarill after Webs, as 199*2/3 is rounded down to 132 and Cradily with 44 Speed EVs has 133 as its Speed stat. Nvm that.
Implemented, the changes suggested to the Flying (minus the skarmory evs, 224 HP evs is for leftovers healing to work best with sturdy), Ghost, Rock, and Fighting teams.
In regards to your Fire suggestions, your changes are large enough I'd suggest simply submitting new teams altogether.
Regarding smub's suggested changes on the M-ZardX team, I posted the exact resulting team a couple of weeks ago, so I don't think another M-ZardX Fire team needs to be submitted (that is, if the team is appropriate enough to be in this thread).
Edit: changed Armaldo's EVs (wrong amount of Def EVs and 4 EVs missing)
Heatran should have Stone Edge, not Ancient Power. Defensive Mega Scizor doesn't really fit on this team, and I don't think Z-Happy Hour Jirachi is sample-worthy.
The above two fire teams are exactly the same except Harpp's uses Specs Blacephalon and Scarf Infernape while GnralLao uses Scarf Blacephalon and Band Infernape.
I prefer Band Infernape so GnralLao's team is approved and will replace our standing Mega Zard X Fire team.
This team is very oddly built and doesn't really hold up in a lot of matchups rock should be able to handle due to how slow it is with such exploitable weaknesses.
Skarmory - Skarmory is a great utility and tank for steel as it has great physical defense and access to Defog and Whirlwind. This set runs almost full physical investment with rocky helmet and some special defense so that it can take some weak special hits. The rocky helmet helps chip away at physcial attackers like Mega-Gallade so that the match gets easier over time. Whirlwind is used to act as a way of phazing out boosted mons like Kommo-o, defog is run due to Excadrill running toxic on this team. Brave bird is keep skarm from being taunt bait, while also being a decent physical attack that can further wear down physical threats to the team. Sturdy is the ability used so that skarmory doesn't get OHKO'd so long as it is healthy.
Excadrill - Excadrill is the premier speed control of the team, being able to outspeed most naturally fast mons like mega-aerodactyl and revenge kill them. On this team, Excadrill runs a choice scarf for obvious reasons and uses Earthquake, Iron Head, and Rock Slide to cover most of the threats it needs to KO. This set also uses Toxic as a way of breaking through some troublesome defensive cores like the eviolite core and most defensive flying mons like mantine and zapdos. Mold Breaker is run to break through things like Mimikyu's disguise so it KO it with iron Head, and Mega-Sableye's Magic bounce so that it can use toxic on it and wear it down. It must run a Jolly nature so that it can secure a KO on Rotom-wash.
Scizor-mega - Scizor-Mega is a powerful priority sweeper with Bullet Punch and Swords Dance. Scizor-mega is run to be as bulky as possible without compromising its threatening sweep potential. The Ev's allow it to take a lot of weak hits without being 2HKO'd allowing it set up and sweep a little easier as the team is more balance based. Bullet Punch is Scizor's main move that is boosted by technician once it mega evolves allowing it to become a powerful 60BP priority move. Uturn is used for slower pivoting, roost is used to increase scizor's longevity, and swords dance increases Scizor's offensive presence. Light metal is the pre-mega ability because it allows scizor to take less damage from weight based moves like low kick and grass knot.
Stakataka - Stakataka is a powerful tr sweeper that can switch in on weak attacks and set up TR to use its three moves in Gyro Ball, Earthquake, and Stone Edge to eliminate opposing Pokemon. It runs 15 IV's in defense and runs a Lonely nature in order for Beast Boost to Boost attack. It also runs no speed investment with 0 IV's to assure that it outspeeds almost every Pokemon in the game under TR. It uses Rockium Z in order to Nuke walls like Celesteela so that it can sweep the rest of the team without being stopped.
Heatran - A staple on steel teams, its immunity to fire is invaluable. On this team it runs an Air Balloon in order to provide an additional ground immunity, and uses Magma Storm to trap enemy walls or support mons. Earth power and stone edge are used as coverage against opposing fire types like Volcarona, Charizard-Y, and Torkoal. Taunt is used to prevent enemy walls from recovering health or use any other support move that would make its situation easier. Heatran runs max speed and special attack in order to hit its threats hard and fast with 24 Ev's in attack in order to KO volcarona and Char-y with stone edge as mentioned before.
Ferrothorn - Ferrothorn is the mixed wall that sports a great defensive typing and can be hard for teams to take down with its iron barbs and leech seed passive recovery. This set runs mixed defenses and maximum bulk to ensure that ferrothorn will be able to take a lot of hits. Power whip is run to hit water-ground types like Swampert and Gastrodon that give steel a hard time, and leech seed is used to passively recover on opposing offensive threats. Protect is run to scout out opposing mons, and Stealth rock is run since skarmory is running defog. The Ev's allow ferro to survive plenty of attacks from physical and special attackers, allowing it to set up leech seed or stealth rock.
