Gen 3 Long Live The King


LONG LIVE THE KING

Hello! Recently, I won The Second Annual ADV Tour, and as a result I've decided to share a team that I created and used throughout the tour. I've had good success with this team, being undefeated in tests, beating opponents in the early rounds of the tournament, beating Bomber. with it in the semifinals, and a would-be-win against Melle2402 in the finals if not for a Hydro Pump miss which cost me the game. This is a tribute to the amazing Ubers tier leader Fireburn who, when he won the same tour last year, made a double RMT. Now aside from that, let's just get right into the teambuilding process.


I began with the core of Slaking and Snorlax. The main concept is for Slaking to just plow it's way through everything, weakening Snorlax's checks/counters as these two share many of the same checks/counters.

I then added Groudon, as a whole lot of steel types are able to switch in on both of these guys pretty freely.I needed something to check those mons, and fire move Groudon is great at fulfilling that role.

Next on the list is Latios. At this point, I really needed a Kyogre switch-in cause it basically just destroys everything, and Latios is the first thing that came to mind. Lati is on literally every team so really doesn't matter what I need it for anyways, it's gonna come on to the team regardless.

Now, Groudon was pretty much able to twave in almost any situation and something on my team would be in trouble, unless I wanted to risk the opp being Sub Salac and then sweeping my entire team. So I added Kyogre which is probably the best Groudon switch-in throughout ADV Ubers.

Lastly, I added Metagross to be my premier Deoxys-A switch-in since my answers to Sub Petaya Deo-A at this point in time were nonexistent. So now that we have the completed skeleton, let's go more in-depth!


Slaking @

Ability: Truant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Shadow Ball
- Return
- Focus Punch


THE KING: Slaking is probably one of my favorite mons to use in the ADV Ubers metagame. He hits extremely hard, and causes players to go out to their immediate normal type switch-in which varies between Forretress, Lugia, Metagross, and Gengar. Despite these being "switch-ins," Slaking usually does a fair amount of damage on them, and, in Gengar's case, can die on a good prediction. Slaking is used as the lead for the team, and puts the opponent in a semi-tough spot at the very start of the battle. He's usually able to get off a good bit of damage on turn 1 if the opponent doesn't have a ghost, but the main reason to use Slaking is to get him in on predicted switches so you can get in a heavy hit, and in most cases, a kill. Slaking is a great mon that is used to gain momentum off of doubles and lead matchup, but can lose a fair bit of momentum or even cost YOU a pokemon due to his ability. Because of this the way you must play with Slaking is very prediction heavy and causes you to play to your opponent, making for a thrilling battle almost every time.

Snorlax @

Ability: Immunity
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Body Slam
- Shadow Ball
- Curse
- Protect

THE FATTY: I chose Snorlax in the initial skeleton of the team due to Slaking and Snorlax creating a great core where they are able to break down each other's checks and counters. Not only that but he's able to lure in Gengar which is amazing since Slaking's only way to kill Gengar off is on a predict, which can put you in a tough spot if you predict incorrectly. Snorlax is also a great Lati switch-in, being able to threaten it out giving you the opportunity to double on their predicted Snorlax switch-in, which is very important since this team is all about gaining momentum. However, you could also Curse up on Latis which is also a good play if Slaking has already greatly weakened/killed their normal switch-ins. The set I'm using for Snorlax is pretty standard aside from Protect, which can be used to gain lefties recovery, or to save yourself from an incoming Explosion/Self-Destruct, as Forretress will usually come in to wall you and if you don't want that Explosion damage to annoy you, you can Protect and save yourself the stress.

Groudon @

Ability: Drought
EVs: 224 HP / 252 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
- Fire Blast
- Thunder Wave

THE DON: Groudon is one of the best mons in the meta, and one of the most crucial members of this team. I chose Groudon to be the next member of the team to be my initial steel switch-in, and to lure in Forretress and Skarmory, since they both check Slaking and Snorlax, so he can bop them with a Fire Blast. That use of a fire move and sun is the main reason I chose Groudon, but he also provides very important twave support (because paralysis is broken beyond help in ADV) and is able to take a hit from Latis and Kyogre (only in sun) which is very important, because if Snorlax is weakened or killed you need a way to deal with Latis. Slaking is able to outspeed Modest Latis and every variant of Kyogre, but Slaking can be an iffy option due to the potentially lost momentum, so we have spdef don to help out against those special attackers. Hidden Power Ghost is just to be able to pick off Latis once you para them since Rock Slide isn't absolutely needed, and it also helps vs Gengar.

Latios @

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Thunder

THE BLUE SPIRIT: Lati. This pokemon is on every single ADV Ubers team, and for good reason. It gives a switch-in to the other two S-Rank pokemon, and can set up and sweep with boltbeam coverage fairly easily in some cases. The main reason I'm using Latios, is so that I have a good Kyogre switch-in, and because of that I went with CM boltbeam set with a spdef spread. There's not too much else to explain about Latios, it's a straight-forward mon with a straight-forward purpose; check Kyogre, set up.

Kyogre @

Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Calm Mind

THE GREAT WAVE: Kyogre is an incredibly hard hitter, and is another possible wincon for the team with a CM twave set. Twave is utterly broken, so you can pretty much just click it no matter the pokemon you're against since the opponent will either switch in Lati or Blissey. If they switch in Lati, you can either set up or go to another check, but if it's Blissey you will almost always have to switch out to Snorlax or whatever you have left in the game. The other reason I chose Kyogre, was to be a Ho-Oh and Groudon switch-in since the only thing I really have is Latios which can get hit extremely hard by Hidden Power Flying, or get paralyzed by twave respectively. That's the gist, Kyogre is a pretty straight-forward mon and all you really do is click twave or set up.

Metagross @

Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 20 Def / 56 SpD
Brave Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Pursuit

THE GLUE: Metagross is the mon that really pulls this team together, he checks Deo-A, is a secondary Lati switch-in, a steel lure, and also a Gengar check. Using kind of an odd set, but I love HP Fire Meta, as he lures in Forretress and Skarm and can hit them up with a quick HP Fire to kill them, thus creating room for Snorlax late game. I'm also using Lum Berry on this set because if Gengar wisps you, you're pretty much useless but if you can kill the Gengar with Pursuit while it's switching out, or Meteor Mashing it while it's staying in, it'll put you in a great position. Meta is mainly used just to be the switch-in to pretty much everything though, and then to boom once his job is done to further weaken the enemy team and not give them a free turn. This is an amazing set for this specific team, and really just ties the team together, and doesn't let the enemy gain an advantage.

FINAL NOTES
This team is all about gaining and keeping momentum throughout the battle, so your play has to reflect that. Whether it's through double switches, predicted switch-ins, early set up, or what have you, you need to play like you want to win and you have to play to your opponent. It doesn't matter how good the team is if you just make the standard plays and switch-in what you have to the opposing threats and yada yada, this isn't a stall team. It's an offensive build with pivots, lures, and set up mons that are supposed to GAIN YOU MOMENTUM, not for you to switch-in with and do nothing afterwards. I've said the word momentum a thousand times by now so I presume you guys get the idea, and how to play with this team. Remember to scout your opponent for important moves they could have, you wanna know if the opponent is Sub Petaya Deo-A or if it's Spell Tag and all that. Just remember that you have to play to your opponent, and that the opponent's sets are going to heavily affect yours in the game.

Slaking @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Shadow Ball
- Return
- Focus Punch

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Body Slam
- Shadow Ball
- Curse
- Protect

Groudon @ Leftovers
Ability: Drought
EVs: 224 HP / 252 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
- Fire Blast
- Thunder Wave

Latios @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Thunder

Kyogre @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Calm Mind

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 20 Def / 56 SpD
Brave Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Pursuit


Thank you so much for reading! I wanted to make this as a little celebration for my recent win in The Second Annual ADV Ubers Tournament, as well as a tribute to Fireburn. It's been really fun to make, and I hope you guys enjoy the team and with my analysis. The team is definitely a fun one that's pretty fast paced and fun to use, so I hope your feel for this team reflects that ^_^

P.S. Fuck everybody who predicted against me especially Crestfall I beat all you chumps suck it.

These aren't in any particular order, so don't get pissed at where you're listed ;(

Fireburn along with MS, you also developed the ADV meta and made some teams that are now staples in the meta, which means a lot to new comers, and also those who are able to critique your teams as a learning experience for what's good/important in the tier. You're definitely a legendary ADV Ubers player, and I'm happy that I got to play you in the tour this year! Maybe you'll win next year's ;)

Minority Suspect thanks for hosting this tour and for doing it annually! I'm excited to participate it in the years to come and to see who wins in the future. Also wanna thank you for developing the ADV meta to the point where it's at now, you put a lot of heart and soul into this metagame and I can see how much you care for it, and I wanna thank you for doing that for the good of all the community.

hyw <333333333 you're one of the funniest people I've ever met and I'm really happy to have you as a friend. Thank you sososo much for playing ADV games with me throughout the tour, it really helped me out and I appreciate it deeply. Ily bby ;)<3

shrang yet another ADV Ubers player to thank. Your crazy ideas in this meta evolve and develop the meta which is insanely important for an old gen, and you'll never know when you create a new staple in the metagame.

Dominatio <3 you're a great guy and thank you for the support! You're incredible at this game, never stop playing, just keep your salt under control dude :( Hopefully we can win UGTT this year, to rack up as another tour team win ;) (sorry for having to get carried a little bit last time, I'm gonna get more wins this time I promise!)

Pohjis <3 another great guy who's an inspiration to me. Your ladder/tour play is what really got me to play the way I do now, and I've adapted a lot to match a similar playstyle to yours. I hope you can respect that and don't think I'm just copying you lol. Along with dom, let's win UGTT bro ;)

darrell1297 <3 thanks for the support dude, have fun but stay safe at Rowan ;)

Californium a great player who I look up to. You're an insanely good player, but don't be so salty when you lose man it sucks to see you angry :( Idk why you hate when people use niche mons, but start accepting new ideas man, be open!

Level 56 your tour play is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, you're an utter freak when it comes to pokemon. I really hope to get to your level one day.

Blim a great friend and a great player. Hope we play in UGTT so I can beat your ass ;)

ogasian please come back D:!!!!!

Gunner Rohan dude you're unstoppable at this game, and I hope that you're back for good now. I wanna see all of your matches in UPl!

Mr.378 early on you were an inspiration to me as a player and honestly you still are, but I hope that we can become better friends. You're insanely good at old gens and you're also very smart, so I could definitely learn a lot from you. Hope that we can talk more in the future :)

Aberforth and Hack you both have a pretty unique view on this game respectively and I enjoy your thoughts on not only ORAS but all other tiers you're involved in. I'm happy to see more contributions from you guys in the future :)

Mysterious M Not Troller Serga my bros!!! I already tagged dom but you're all great friends of mine and I'm really glad I got to share the experience of winning MUTE with you all. Serga and Troller both of you guys gotta be more active I never talk to you guys anymore ;( all of you guys are crazy funny and good as players, hope we can all talk and get together again. Revive the Skype group!

soviet idk where you went, but come back dude :( I miss your jokes in chat

SparksBlade stop being a meanie ;(

Haruno Peli Norcal bros!!!

polop ILY PLEASE BE MORE ACTIVE DUDE CMONNNNNNNNNNN

PROBLEMS godlems. You're sick

Crestfall YOU PREDICTED AGAINST ME EVERY ROUND BUT I STILL CAME OUT ON TOP SMDDDDDDD

Camilas sup bro <3

Vileman you say a bunch of funny shit in the skype group, hopefully you get bought again for UPL this year, if not only for the memes

WreckDra you're a great dude and I love your view on this game. DPP's dead rn but please, as one of the few people who still plays the meta, REVIVE IT! It's never too late, start a tour or something man I wanna see you and everyone else play that gen again, it's better than people give it credit for

Arii Stella such a sweet person, and a great presence to be around. Keep contributing to smogon and the community, what you do really is appreciated believe it or not, keep it up and keep playing DPP REVIVE IT!

absdaddy yo idk if you're dead or not tbh but come back to ubers room at least, you're hella funny and a great mod to me at least. Revive DPP dude, it's not worth giving up on. You're a great player and just a hilarious person.

magsyy the homie <3 hope we can talk about music more and praise kendrick in front of MS. Don't drink gasoline you fucking idiot

Jhonx~ you're a funny dude and your english is great! Fuck everyone who says otherwise, everyone knows what you're talking about regardless. I'm gonna post more ADV Ubers cores to the thread so I hope you're happy about it :)

Contact a cool guy who helped out in testing. Thanks for the support man I appreciate it <3

James Jimmy ha.

I'm really sorry if I forgot anyone but I probably did and I apologize in advance :((((
You're all legends and I wanna talk to you all some more, and for those who I'm not friends with yet I hope to become friends with in the future :) <3


EDIT: Some of the sprites were a bit wonky, sorry about that I hope these are fixed now.
 
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Aberforth

is a Top Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
Ubers Leader
I'm concerned about how well you do vs Sub Salac Groudon, especially given the fact you have a Slaking which can be free setup for said Groudon. Frankly if u give it a free turn it auto-wins. Your Kyogre is running no speed and will get OHKOd by +2 Earthquake, and latios will get outsped after Salac before dropping to HP Ghost. Furthermore your choice for a latios spread is weird. CM BoltBeam Recover is a good set on latios... but then you run max spdef? (fun fact u can have ur exact spread with extra defence bulk by using Latias (252 hp 164 spa 92 spdef modest)).

My suggested change which helps in both of these issues is to run a physically defensive CM latias, with a set of refresh, calm mind, recover and dragon claw. Mono-Dragon coverage is probably good enough for this team given how many Steel Lures you're already using and this helps prevent your weakness to Groudon, as well as to things like Rayquaza which can potentially be annoying for your team in the right situations (CB 2hkos everything after spikes (or equivalent chip damage). U can also go with bolt beam if u are particularly worried about the coverage lost. The exact spread I would run would be 252 HP 180 Def and 76 Speed. The Hp and Defence ensure u can live one hit from a +2 Groudon, and the speed means that you dont risk being slower than groudon when he's not yet activated salac, giving you more of an opportunity to Kill it without being used as Salac-Activation (Ie sd on slaking, sd again on lati as ice beam puts u in salac range and then sweep/set up sub if low roll avoids salac). Dragon Claw is also useful in this regard as it does 44% or so minimum, 2hkoing after a sub but not being a good chance to activate salac after a single sub.

Ty for shoutout.
 
I'm concerned about how well you do vs Sub Salac Groudon, especially given the fact you have a Slaking which can be free setup for said Groudon. Frankly if u give it a free turn it auto-wins. Your Kyogre is running no speed and will get OHKOd by +2 Earthquake, and latios will get outsped after Salac before dropping to HP Ghost. Furthermore your choice for a latios spread is weird. CM BoltBeam Recover is a good set on latios... but then you run max spdef? (fun fact u can have ur exact spread with extra defence bulk by using Latias (252 hp 164 spa 92 spdef modest)).

My suggested change which helps in both of these issues is to run a physically defensive CM latias, with a set of refresh, calm mind, recover and dragon claw. Mono-Dragon coverage is probably good enough for this team given how many Steel Lures you're already using and this helps prevent your weakness to Groudon, as well as to things like Rayquaza which can potentially be annoying for your team in the right situations (CB 2hkos everything after spikes (or equivalent chip damage). U can also go with bolt beam if u are particularly worried about the coverage lost. The exact spread I would run would be 252 HP 180 Def and 76 Speed. The Hp and Defence ensure u can live one hit from a +2 Groudon, and the speed means that you dont risk being slower than groudon when he's not yet activated salac, giving you more of an opportunity to Kill it without being used as Salac-Activation (Ie sd on slaking, sd again on lati as ice beam puts u in salac range and then sweep/set up sub if low roll avoids salac). Dragon Claw is also useful in this regard as it does 44% or so minimum, 2hkoing after a sub but not being a good chance to activate salac after a single sub.

Ty for shoutout.
Thanks for the rate!

You're absolutely right about the weakness to Sub Salac Groudon. So, let's talk about the scenario you suggested. I just killed something with Slaking, and the opponent switches in Groudon since they have a free turn, so I then go to Latios, and the opponent SDs. Now, this is where you said the opponent would STAY IN, SD, and get their Salac Berry activated thus causing them to win. Now, I don't have a clue of who stays in with a Groudon against a Latios since 252+ IB KOs SubSalac 100% of the time, like that's honestly just an awful play lmao but I guess if they know the team or are some type of GOD, they do get an auto-win.

Your change to Latias could definitely be a beneficial one for the team and I was 100% oblivious to the fact that you could run my exact Latios spread with extra defense if you change it to Latias lol, that was a great find.

However, if I was to change anything about this team, I would first change Latios to Latias with the exact stats spread my Latios has just with better defense, and then change Kyogre to a physically defensive spread with the same moves. This way, I can still have a boltbeam lati and also the best Groudon check there is. I think that keeps the flow of the team much better than slapping a physdef Latias on, since it keeps the initial roles that that my pokemon had, but just with a more bulky Kyogre that would then become my premier Groudon switch-in.

I really did appreciate your insight and gave me lots to think about. Again, I have no idea who keeps Groudon in against a Latios, but if they did, it would be a complete auto-win, you're correct. Thanks so much for the rate and your insight on the team n_n
 

Aberforth

is a Top Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
Ubers Leader
The situation was not about Latios, but Latias. In the Latios situation, if they sub, they 2hko you with HP ghost without even needing to set up, maybe just wanting damage on the lati, but then they see they actually outspeed you and can just 2hko straight away, after which you're left in a scenario that doesn't favour you (sack latios or switch into kyogre, and if they sub on the ogre switch in you lose).

My issue with using a physically defensive kyogre as opposed to a phys-def lati is that +2 EQ still does a tonne of damage, and it wouldn't take much to put kyogre into range of +2 EQ. Granted the same can be said about Latias and HP ghost, but it's easier to recover off damage like that with Latias given it has reliable recovery. And u can still use a physically bulky latias as a setup bolt beam sweeper, it's got the special bulk naturally to reliably check Kyogre already, and this helps more with the weakness to groudon than shifting Kyogre to a more physically defensive role.
 
I mean, I still have Groudon that can always live a +2 EQ anyways so having 2 mons that can always live a hit, as well as a mon that can severely hinder Groudon and stop it from coming in (Latias) is good enough for me. Granted, SubSalac Groudon is one of the most dangerous mons in the meta, if not the most dangerous, so it's hard to really get a complete stop for it anyways if you're not using Lugia or something.

EDIT: You probably are right though, your change is probably better than mine. It's always impossible to tell until it's actually used in battle, but your change would help the team considerably. Gonna have to try it out :p
 
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