Monotype Options

[mushamu]

Introduction
​

Hey, for those of you who don't know me I'm a Monotype player who likes to build a lot. I wanted to post this team because it's a team that I've been spamming a lot during the past few months with good success and it has gone through quite a bit of changes which I find really interesting to dissect. Even though I didn't change any of the Pokemon themselves, as time went on and I thought more about the team I made more changes to the moveslots; I originally made this team mid December and kept on editing it until mid April and it still works. I'm really proud of the team because it feels like I've edited it a lot and tested out different things slowly to the point where I'm really satisfied with how it turned out and it's become my favorite team to use. Building has always been something I've loved doing in Monotype which is the main tier I play and I find Monotype building a lot more in-depth than what a lot of people make it out to be.

I like consistent teams generally, and whichever tier I play I tend to default to bulky offense and balance teams that tend to have even matchups compared to hyper offense and stall teams. Pokemon is cool to me because of the outplaying aspect in game; which plays into Monotype building where you have to really think about how to make your team so it can be consistent when every type is already strapped for options.

SS Monotype is unfortunately a lot less diverse than SM due to the dex cut and the power levels being super high. When making teams you have to keep in mind a lot of huge threats in the builder so you don't lose to them; stuff like Melmetal, Galarian Moltres, Kyurem and Urshifu-R are among the Pokemon you have to keep in mind as well as Heavy Duty Boots invalidating hazards as counterplay, so building can be quite the nightmare. I really like this team because Flying is again one of the most consistent, if the most consistent type in the tier at the moment, and Noivern gives very good counterplay to a lot of anti-Flying countermeasures, so this is my favorite team to use at the moment because of its amazing consistency. I've been a huge Noivern fan in SS since the time Flying had Emolga as an Electric switchin; Infiltrator Switcheroo just gives the player a really good catch-all to a lot of threats you could possibly lose to and glues the team together through that virtue. I used these 6 Pokemon first when I had to play Bluxio for circuit playoffs but I've really liked it since then and I've stuck to it.

Teambuilding Process​

This team initially looked really different. As I hadn't used Noivern Flying since MWP 3 when I played Chaitanya which was almost a year ago, I decided to give it another whirl with Nasty Plot Tornadus-T that I've been enjoying lately as well. I'm not going to explain why these Pokemon are chosen here because a lot of the explanation for how the team synergies together is in the movesets rather than the Pokemon; the Pokemon itself are just a pretty basic defensive core + an offensive core. The general idea is that Noivern deals with offense and Tornadus-T deals with balance, so the two Pokemon support each other very very well by covering multiple ends of the spectrum.

Initial team: https://pokepast.es/a1dd61755fc83db4

This was the first version that I had of the team right after I put it together in the builder. It looks a lot more different than the finished team but that's why I really like the finished product a lot; the effort makes it admirable to me.

Here are the changes I made to the team in chronological order:

The first change I made to the team was Thundurus-T and Noivern's sets. I originally had Choice Specs Noivern because I liked the power that it instantly brought to the table which makes it a nice breaker and anti setup at the same time; nuking things like Nidoking on the spot instantly. Choice Scarf Thundurus-T was the Speed control for the team. However, I realized that Choice Scarf Noivern's Speed tier was better for its role as an anti-cheese, mainly beating Ice because of its ability to outspeed Arctozolt under Hail and beat it through Substitute and Aurora Veil. I also gave up on Choice Specs Noivern after it only did 43% to Galarian Moltres in a test game against Hyperspace12 with Draco Meteor and I never used it again. Thundurus-T was then changed to a Heavy Duty Boots set which supports it breaking potential by letting it switch moves. I gave it Thunder Wave to help it support Tornadus-T's breaking, and this was the version I used for circuit playoffs and I didn't really edit it lot until 2 months after I made the original team.

I then used Discharge and Psychic on Thundurus-T. I didn't load into it a lot while playing with it but Nidoking was a huge threat in practice when I faced it because after removing Choice Specs from Noivern nothing OHKO'd it and BoltBeam beats the entire team. Giving up Thunder Wave for Psychic would mean Tornadus-T has a hard time breaking, so I decided to put Discharge over Thunderbolt as well so that the paralysis chance is still decently present. The slight power drop was worth it when I could essentially compress Thunderbolt + Thunder Wave into one slot.

I then changed Knock Off to Rest on Landorus-T. After playing with the team more I noticed it struggled to beat fatter games if Tornadus-T was Toxic'd, which meant things like Heatran and Toxapex were problematic. I used Rest on Landorus-T to help against the Heatran issue over Knock Off, especially since I figured Tornadus-T already spread Knock Off very well.

Last but not least, I used Focus Blast on Noivern over Flamethrower. I was talking to Hurtadoo about Flying vs. Ice and how Noivern is good in that matchup which is otherwise hard and we decided that Focus Blast was ultimately better than Flamethrower on Noivern for OHKOing Arctozolt under Hail while you'd otherwise need Substitute chip in order to do so. Here's the conversation:

logs

Without further ado, here's the team as it stands today:

The Team​

Noivern @

Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Switcheroo
- Focus Blast
- Toxic

Noivern is my favorite Pokemon to use in SS Monotype because of its ability to cover up weaknesses extremely well for one of the best types in the tier-Flying. Switcheroo and Toxic with Infiltrator makes it extremely good at answering basically almost any form of counterplay there is available to beat Flying. Infiltrator is good for beating Substitute Pokemon as well as handling Ice because it can still revenge kill things behind Aurora Veil. For one, Arctozolt and Kyurem's Substitute variants are invalidated by Infiltrator Draco Meteor, and you can easily force the sack war against Dragon and Ice because of Noivern's strong STAB in Draco Meteor as well as Focus Blast. Alongside this, many other setup sweepers are taken care of by Noivern. Galarian Moltres, Hydreigon, Thundurus-T, Spectrier, Rotom-H, Rotom-W, Tyranitar, Tapu Fini, Clefable, Mew, and Garchomp are all dealt with by Noivern in some way, shape or form, whether it be tricking its Choice Scarf to lock it into one move, hitting them with Toxic, or straight up dropping a Draco Meteor or Focus Blast on them. Focus Blast may seem interesting on this at first, but it helps a lot against Ice-types; mainly OHKOing Arctozolt from full while outspeeding it under Hail and threatening to OHKO Mamoswine so it's forced to use Ice Shard against Noivern. It also gives Noivern a good move to spam against Dark, as it's a midground that hits all of Bisharp, Weavile, and Tyranitar that all threaten to shred Flying. Toxic was originally for Substitute + Toxic Zapdos when DLC 2 was just out, but now it's just a good move to use to nullify certain Pokemon after you've already tricked Choice Scarf away. Modest Noivern is to maximize damage output and is most notably important for OHKOing Substitute Kyurem.

Tornadus-Therian (M) @

Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 200 HP / 84 SpA / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
- Knock Off
- Nasty Plot
- Heat Wave
- Hurricane​

Tornadus-T is the cornerstone of this team and the main win condition in longer games. I love it as a breaker in Monotype because of Regenerator; it makes the Flying team a lot less passive when you can essentially just Nasty Plot, do damage, then switch out and repeat. It's a huge threat to every balance type; Steel, Water, Poison, Psychic, and Ground all hate dealing with Nasty Plot combined with Hurricane, Heat Wave, and Knock Off. Knock Off might seem weird on a set that's designed for special setup, but it's great on Tornadus-T because of Regenerator which makes it extremely easy to spread and force onto things. Heatran, Nihilego and Galarian Slowking are the main three Pokemon that Knock Off targets so that Tornadus-T can sweep later on in the game; removing Leftovers and Black Sludge from Heatran and Nihilego means they're crippled for the rest of the game and removing Assault Vest from Galarian Slowking means that Hurricane 2HKOs it at +2. It is also a great move for general utility, especially in a metagame that is centered around Heavy Duty Boots. 200 HP EVs means that Tornadus-T can live a V-Create from Victini and use Knock Off on it to remove Heavy Duty Boots from the beginning of the game. It should be noted that being burned is generally more desirable than being poisoned because being poisoned makes Tornadus-T's ability to win long games a lot more shaky. Heavy Duty Boots are the best item here so that it can shake off damage more reliably with Regenerator.

Landorus-Therian (M) @

Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 164 SpD / 92 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rest
- U-turn

Defensive Landorus-T is a pretty standard Pokemon to be seeing on Flying teams. Much like in OU, Landorus-T is great in Monotype as well because of the role compression it provides; giving Flying teams an Electric immunity, a Stealth Rock setter, a pivot, as well as Intimidate helping in certain interactions against physical Pokemon. I'm not going to go into why having an Electric immunity is important, especially for a team of 6 Flying-type Pokemon, but Landorus-T's bulk lets it stand up to Pokemon like Tapu Koko, Zeraora, and Alolan Raichu which Thundurus-T are more shaky against. Since the main breaker on this team is Tornadus-T with Nasty Plot, Stealth Rock is important to mainly force switches against Heatran after it's taken a Knock Off; eventually weakening it to the point where Tornadus-T can sweep the rest of the Steel team with Heat Wave. It's also nice to punish Pokemon like Toxapex and Galarian Slowking for switching in freely against the matchups Tornadus-T can beat such as Water and Poison. Rest is an interesting choice for Landorus-T, but I figured having reliable recovery is a good idea for Pokemon like Heatran and Toxapex which can get annoying since typical Flying teams have Galarian Moltres to win the long game against fatter Pokemon whereas this one does not. 92 Speed EVs mean that Landorus-T can outspeed Bisharp and it's specially defensive to have a better matchup against Pokemon like Hydreigon and Tapu Koko while living an Alolan Ninetale's Freeze Dry from full and getting up Stealth Rock against Ice.

Thundurus-Therian (M) @

Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Psychic
- Grass Knot
- Sludge Bomb​

There's not much to really say here about the Pokemon itself. Thundurus-T is a pretty common Pokemon because it's great offensively; beating Water, opposing Flying teams, and Fairy while helping against a lot of other matchups while being an Electric immunity so that Landorus-T isn't the sole switchin is extremely valuable which is why you'll see this Pokemon in almost all Flying teams. However, this set is slightly different than the typical Volt Switch sets with Toxic. Discharge isn't typically used on Thundurus-T because Thunderbolt is just better, but the paralysis chance is good on this team to support Tornadus-T as the main breaker. Hurricane is so unreliable, having like 5 outcomes when you click it depending on if you miss/confuse, so having Discharge paralyze things like Galarian Slowking and numb them down for Torandus-T to have better odds is valuable. This team doesn't have Galarian Moltres so the Nidoking matchup is worse than usual, which is why Psychic is used here to OHKO Nidoking from full while threatening Ground and Poison with other coverage options. The rest of the set is pretty standard, Sludge Bomb is for Fairy, Grass Knot is for Water, and Heavy Duty Boots are broken.

Celesteela @

Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Protect
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed

Every Flying team needs a Steel-type because they can switch into Ice moves while having a generally good typing against Psychic, Fairy, and Dragon-type Pokemon. It's usually either Celesteela or Corviknight with Skarmory being uncommon, but Celesteela is my favorite Steel to use on Flying over Corviknight generally because Heavy Slam makes it not passive against Fairy as an entirety. Corviknight's defensive utility is amazing but it can be passive against threats like Weavile, Tapu Fini, and Bisharp, depending on what set you're running while Celesteela blanket checks them while still being good defensively. Leech Seed also helps Tornadus-T be not entirely reliant on Regenerator for healing. Normally double Steel STAB with Flash Cannon would be preferred for Substitute + Roost Kyurem, but on this team Noivern beats it provided you hit Draco Meteor, so handling Bisharp and Aegislash is much more valuable with Flamethrower.

Mantine @

Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Defog
- Roost​

Flying teams usually use Mantine or Dragonite for Fire and Water-type attacks. I like using Mantine more now because blocking Flip Turn from Barraskewda and walling Kingdra is key to not getting swept away by rain Water whereas Dragonite does not (I did not believe Isza when he first said it and found out the hard way in MPL semifinals ). It's the main Defog user here as well. Having Tornadus-T with Nasty Plot on the team is key for Mantine as it is a very passive Pokemon in itself; Regenerator cycling means the matchup against common defensive walls that don't care about Mantine at all like Slowking, Toxapex, and Gastrodon is much better and gives Mantine something to pivot out to. 96 Speed EVs outpace Adamant Azumarill so it doesn't sweep the entire team with Belly Drum. Heavy Duty Boots are self explanatory here as a Defogger that is Stealth Rock weak.

Threats​

This team has pretty even matchups so I'll just name some things it needs to be careful around:

Galarian Moltres is a huge threat because of Fiery Wrath along with the ability to flinch, so it can easily become disastrous if not played around carefully. However, Noivern can cripple it with Switcheroo and the rest of the team can weaken it with Thundurus-T being able to revenge kill it after some chip.

Ice is a huge threat to Flying (and many other types in the tier) because of the combined breaking power of Arctozolt and Kyurem. However, Noivern has the unique ability to beat both. It should be noted that Stealth Rock limits the amount of times Noivern can switch in the field so try to keep an eye on hazards, as well as Celesteela being a huge threat to the Ice team. Kyurem should generally be played around carefully because of the numerous amount of sets it can run.

These three Dark-type Pokemon can overwhelm this team combined if not played around carefully. If against hyper offensive Dark, try to not let screens be up when these Pokemon hit the field. Don't let them set up for free, and a well played Celesteela can win. Noivern's Focus Blast is also useful to ensure they don't set up for free.

These two Calm Mind users are huge threats to Flying on Fairy teams. However, Noivern can take out one of them using Switcheroo, and a well played Celesteela can threaten the rest of the team as well. Thundurus-T can beat them if they're not set up. Be careful against screens since they can severely nullify the effectiveness of Thundurus-T and Celesteela in the matchup.

Shell Smash Cloyster, despite being uncommon, can be a threat if left unchecked. It's most commonly found on Water teams as an anti-Flying measure. However, Water teams commonly use Volcanion as their Defog user, which means Landorus-T can easily set Stealth Rock up early game and break its Focus Sash. Even if Focus Sash is not broken, Celesteela can still take it on.

Replays
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replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8monotype-595188 (Circuit playoffs vs Bluxio)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8monotype-595190 (Circuit playoffs vs Bluxio)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8monotype-595879 (Circuit playoffs vs Dieu Amphibien
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1466343253 (Circuit playoffs vs Trichotomy)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1497148053-28sb4b8fkbblmjmv4q2wxjg7zk70ifapw (MWP vs Havens)

Shoutouts​

I'm not going to do a lot of shoutouts because I just wanted to show a team I liked a lot with this RMT, but I will say thanks to the friends I have on here which make playing Monotype and Pokemon enjoyable.

Importable
(click on the sprites!)


Conclusion
Thank you for reading this RMT and I hope you find this team as well as Monotype teambuilding as much fun as I do ​

 

[Dead by Daylight]

ofc its mushamu how would it not be fire