Stumbled into a bit of a teambuilding/laddering block since the waters got banned, but I've still been having some fun trying to figure out the meta a bit and playing with some of the more unorthodox new mons. Namely, this chonky dude right here.
(how metal is that)
Wo-Chien is appealing for a lot of reasons despite some glaring weaknesses. On one hand, dedicating a slot to a specially defensive mon on Balance/BO that doesn't offer hazards or removal and has nightmares about Chi-Yu feels very constraining. However, I've found that it offers a deceptively large amount of utility against offense, with the ability to remove boots, provide consistent chip with leech seed, and even spread paralysis on would-be switch-ins like Chi-Yu, Chien-Pao, and Corviknight. It also provides a surprising amount of support in breaking defensive cores that rely on recovery moves due to Taunt and its relatively high speed tier for a defensive mon.
This is the set I've been running:
View attachment 469487
Wo-Chien @ Leftovers
Ability: Tablets of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost/Poison/Fairy/Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
-
Stun Spore/Giga Drain
- Leech Seed
- Taunt
These are pretty much the expected options for this thing, but I'll talk a bit about them in order. First, the tera types this thing can run really are crazy. People have commented in this thread and the tera-policy thread about how tera allows your defensive cores to feel resilient and customisable in way that's really cool. As such, the best type depends on whatever you need this thing to be able to take a hit from and Knock Off/Taunt in return. I think you can even add Water or Fighting to the list, though the main things I've wanted were a Bug resist and either a Fairy or Fighting resist. Embarassingly, I forgot where the EVs come from but I believe I wanted it to take a certain hit on the special side so I'm just sticking with this, a more mixed or physically bulky set might proove better.
Ok, so the elephant in the room is Stun Spore. I know, 75% accuracy feels really bad, but I pretty much only click this on the switch when I know I have a defensive answer to the incoming pokemon. But there are really a lot of things that feel great to be para'd that love to come in on this thing. Chi-Yu, Iron Moth, Volcarona, Chien-Pao, Annihilape, Roaring Moon. I really think that coming in on more passive pokemon or resists and para'ing key offensive mons that switch-in to deal with it is the key to whatever limited viability the snail can claim.
I also mentioned that there are some pretty heavy teambuilding constraints that this thing imposes on two fronts. First, it takes a slot for a defensive mon without playing the hazard game (though it can be argued that playing around Gholdengo, knocking off boots, and taunting setters/defoggers counts) and second, 2 kinds of relatively specific support.
The first, as has been discussed in this thread at length, is harder to come by, and that is a Chi-Yu switch-in. And the second is pretty easy and helpful to slot on a team, which is a way to punish U-Turn.
I'll quickly go over some partners that I've tried to accomplish these purposes:
View attachment 469493- SpDef rocks has been getting love but Great Tusk usage is way up recently, I also tried Band and Specs, which were surprisingly effective.
View attachment 469494-I didn't give this one a ton of time but AV seemed promising. Banded can be a one-time switch and appreciates paralysis, though.
Quaquaval - AV has been underwhelming. Fast isn't bulky enough and bulky isn't fast or strong enough. It getting spin is cute though.
View attachment 469498- As others have mentioned, this thing is the star player of balance. U-Turn/Defog sets in particular mess with Gholdengo hazards, and can bring in Wo-Chien on the cheesetick to do its thing with Knock, Seeds, or Para. Rocky Helmet can quickly wears down U-turners including opposing Corvs.
View attachment 469501- On the builds I tried that were more BO, this thing was impressive. Max HP + Speed is thriving this meta but I'll give a quick shout to Full Special Attacker with Draco/Fireblast/EQ/Spikes or SR and tera Fire.
Overall, I've had a lot of fun building and playing with this guy. I don't think it's very good in the grand scheme of things. It suffers from passivity, team building challenges, and often taking the tera slot from its teammates. However, the things it accomplishes against opposing balance squads, in addition to scoring some potentially key Knocks and Paras against offense are actually really valuable and isn't something any other single pokemon can really claim to do. Definitely recommend trying it out, and perhaps a better balance builder than me can make something truly disgusting with it.