GOLISOPOD HYPER OFFENSE BY ESTEEMED USER: ethan06
OVERVIEW
Okay so I thought I'd drop an RMT for my 900th post, the last milestone to hit before the big 1k. This here is a team that I've been running for a couple months now, and I don't think I've ever felt this comfortable playing with a team in all the years I've been playing Pokémon. It's my personal take on the Tapu Koko + Golisopod core that many in the BSS community have been championing for a little while now (myself included), and it looks completely wack but I swear it works ^^ Read on to find out how~~~~
BUILDING PROCESS
So you're probably all familiar with the concept of this core: Fairy-Dragon-Steel, Aegislash checks opposing Fairies and takes hits, Tapu Koko pivots around and throws out Thunderbolts when it needs to, Garchomp throws out strong physical attacks, checks Fire-types like Volcarona and Charizard and keeps Electric-types from taking advantage of Koko's terrain. All fine and dandy, until this little piggy \\
// comes to market and fucks up everything for everyone. So we need to turn to a really unconventional pick to ensure that old mate stays in the ice age where he fuckin well belongs: Golisopod.
Before I go any further, I should probably explain why I used Dugtrio for as long as I did. It's true that this Pokémon is kind of terrible, and perhaps I should've swapped it out for a more viable Ground-type sooner, but I felt that Dugtrio's superior Speed stat is just too important for managing boosted threats like Volcarona, Mega Charizard X and Salamence, and that Arena Trap had a very important role in removing certain Ground-weak threats from the game entirely (and ensuring that the things I wish to revenge-kill stay put while I murder them). Tapu Koko, Mega Gengar, Heatran, Excadrill, Alolan Muk and weakened Toxapex fall under this umbrella. Ultimately, I decided that these perks weren't enough to make up for Dugtrio's frailty and relative weakness, but enough on that later.
Now, while Tapu Koko is fast, there are some threats to this setup that you need something slightly faster for. Opposing Tapu Koko and Mega Gengar are both massive thorns in the side of this team, as well as opposing Aegislash, so I went with the godly Substitute + Encore Mega Lopunny to punish status users and get free Returns off on opposing teams.
Lastly, if you've played SM Battle Spot Singles for any length of time, then you'll recognise that this team has a problem with one particular Pokémon, and furthermore, you'll totally understand why I felt the need to dedicate an entire teamslot purely to checking it - I'm talking about the poultry scourge of BSS himself, Mega Blaziken. Latias is horrendously bulky, to the point that it's one of maybe four things in the entire format that can stand up to a +2 High Jump Kick. It's also nice to have a bit of neutral firepower on hand against bulkier teams with mons like Hippowdon, and Healing Wish is a useful tool to have when you're playing the Emergency Exit pivoting game. Having an actually durable mon on hand when I don't feel confident in my positioning is nice too when I need to soak up a heavy hit.
I left this team, and RMT, alone for quite a while before making this change; I was pleased with where the team was, but it still had some glaring issues that I felt I needed to revisit. The first was Dugtrio; if you read the RMT before this change, you'd know that I really struggled to justify Dugtrio over a better Ground-type, and that's because it was ass. It did its job, I guess, which was to outspeed most Salamence and Rock Tomb them down for Tapu Koko, and also to trap random Steel-types like Excadrill and Heatran, but it was far too frail to effectively act as the team's Electric answer and it didn't have the firepower or breadth of coverage to justify its spot on the team. Scarf Garchomp achieves much of the same things, including a comparable speed tier to Adamant Dugtrio, but it also has a more generally useful ability, access to a Fire move, more bulk, and slightly more firepower. It also serves as the team's primary check to Fire-types such as Volcarona now that Latias is gone, which brings me to the other change: Rocky Helmet Cresselia. This change achieves a couple of things for the team; it has more physical bulk than Latias, which means it can check both Blaziken and Salamence more effectively; it adds another form of passive damage with Rocky Helmet without compromising much on Latias' utility; and it sheds the Dragon typing, meaning that we actually have two solid answers to Mamoswine now! Yay! I reckon I'm happy with this version of the team, so this is how it's going to stay. Give it a shot maybe? Read the rest of the RMT first tho. <3
HAVE A PROPER LOOK AT THIS SQUAD FAM
@
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
- U-turn
This Pokémon is the leader of the team in more ways than one: not only does it take the first slot, but it is also one of the team's strongest members and finds itself being picked as a lead in most of the matches I bring it to. Choice Specs Tapu Koko is a stupidly strong and imo slept-on threat that dishes out ridiculously strong Thunderbolts and often unexpected Hidden Power Ices which have the capacity to wipe the likes of Garchomp, Gliscor and Mega Salamence from the game completely. I have two pivoting moves to allow myself the greatest amount of freedom in a lead matchup; in games with Ground-types present, it is helpful to have U-turn so that I'm not giving away free turns to such threatening switch-ins as Gliscor, Excadrill or Alolan Marowak. However, if there is no Electric immunity present, or I feel that the circumstances of a certain game make it unlikely that the opponent would wish to switch said immunity in at that time, then Volt Switch is a nice mix of the utility of U-Turn with the awe-inspiring strength of Terrain-boosted Specs Thunderbolt (albeit a teeny bit less). Damage is damage, and more is merrier.
~~~~
@
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Sneak
Ah, Aegislash. Easily my favourite thing about Battle Spot Singles ever since the dawn of XY, somehow simultaneously an immovable object and also an unstoppable force. Eat your heart out, Isaac Newton. Aegislash's role on this team is to use its peerless defensive typing to check scary threats like Tapu Lele, Mimikyu, Cloyster, Tapu Bulu, Mega Heracross, and Mega Kangaskhan, and to take advantage of them to throw out heavy hits, as well as to pressure physical setup mons with King's Shield and remove entire Pokémon from the game with Never-Ending Nightmare. It also makes for an okay last-ditch check to Mega Salamence if I allow it to get out of hand. All of my favourite teams have this thing on it, it's just so splashable and strong and humiliating people with KS mindgames is just far too much fun. If you haven't given it a shot yet in the current meta then do yourself a favour, it's great.
~~~~
@
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
Haha did you know this once used to be a Dugtrio? That was memey as fuck but ultimately pretty bad, so I made a necessary change and ended up with a much more reliable member for the team: Garchomp. Now, this has a slot on the team over Landorus-T for a couple reasons: Firstly, the Dragon typing lends this team its only proper Fire resistance; secondly, the Speed tier of 102 maintains Dugtrio's capacity for revenge killing +1 Volcarona and Mega Charizard X, as well as slower Mega Salamence variants; lastly, Fire Blast helps out tremendously against Ferrothorn even with a Jolly nature. I would've gone with Naive but I didn't want to compromise on bulk when I needed this to be able to switch in on things like Volcarona's Fiery Dance (and I also only had a Jolly one on cart and I got lazy...). Garchomp makes for a sturdy Electric immunity that I can feel more confident about switching in than Dugtrio, even if it does have unfortunate weaknesses to Hidden Power [Ice] and Dazzling Gleam. It won't die to one in most cases though, which makes it better. Rock Slide to take advantage of flinches, Outrage to reliably OHKO Mence.
~~~~
@
Ability: Emergency Exit
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Leech Life
- Aqua Jet
- Liquidation
I love this mon too. Golisopod surprised me when I started using it: yes, Emergency Exit is one hell of a double-edged sword, but First Impression hits like a goddamn truck on nearly everything (as in it does 40% to Tapu Koko...) and resisted physical hits literally bounce off. Life Orb is an item that you never really see on Golisopod but it's, in my opinion, the best, purely by virtue of the amount of control that it gives you over Golisopod's ability, allowing you to use your priority moves to turn Emergency Exit from a liability into a tool. Leech Life makes Golisopod helpful against bulky Psychics like Slowbro and Cresselia, and adds another element of HP management to Golisopod's playstyle. Liquidation is capable of 2HKOing Celesteela. The Speed investment allows you to outpace uninvested 31 Spe Adamant Hippowdon, making it easier to win the lead matchup. Similarly to Aegislash, if you haven't given this mon a shot yet, do so - it really is a lot of fun to play with and utterly smiting things with a First Impression out of nowhere hasn't gotten old for me yet.
~~~~
@
Ability: Limber
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Encore
- Return
- High Jump Kick
Lopunny is the fourth mon here that I just really enjoy using. Substitute + Encore is an incredibly disruptive set that's basically tailor-made to fuck with Aegislash, and it also almost never fails to get results against other things that Lopunny should, by rights, be losing to: status users and hazard setters like Celesteela, Hippowdon, Toxapex, and Ferrothorn all find themselves getting locked into Leech Seeds, Toxics, Yawns, Stealth Rocks, Thunder Waves... More often than not, this means free damage for me. Unfortunately, if Mega Lopunny does have a drawback, it's that it's not very strong, and so it often find itself getting walled and worn down by repeated Substitutes. Despite that, it's still invaluable against stall and offense alike, and Encore creates huge amounts of opportunity for the other team members to do some serious damage.
~~~~
@
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Lunar Dance
- Moonlight
Rocky Helmet Cresselia is about as cookie cutter as you can get, but it does wonders for the defensive backbone of this team. Essentially, I needed a reliable switch-in to Salamence and Blaziken in one slot, and while that sounds like an impossibly tall order, Cresselia is more than capable of taking on the responsibility. It has all of the capabilities of the last Pokémon to occupy this slot, Soul Dew Latias, but slightly bulkier and a shade more passive. What this means is that it can take on the things that Latias was meant to a little better, but it compromises on offensive firepower, instead relying on passive Rocky Helmet damage to chip things into range for its teammates. Lunar Dance is amazing for Golisopod, in that it allows me to continue to use Emergency Exit for pivoting purposes and affords me more Life Orb hits and First Impressions. It's nice for initiative as well, so this mon has a lot of utility as a partner for Tapu Koko + Golisopod games. Ice Beam + Toxic + Moonlight are fairly standard for Cress, but the three moves in tandem allow it to wear down scary boosting threats such as Mega Salamence and Mega Charizard X while remaining healthy.
~~~~
THREATLIST
Tapu Koko
I only have one Electric check on this team and for the most part it's excellent, but it does have an Achilles heel - weaknesses to Fairy and Ice. Tapu Koko has both of these at its disposal, which makes Garchomp a shaky switch-in. If I lose Garchomp, generally my best call is to try and overpower it with my own Koko. Past that I'm fucked if Aegi can't take a hit (although it ate Gigavolt Havoc once so anything is possible).
Tapu Fini
Tapu Fini is an odd thing to be afraid of for any team but seriously, it 6-0s this team without any issues whatsoever. The only foolproof way I have to so much as touch it is Tapu Koko, and you only have to pair it with any Ground-type to turn this matchup into a prediction-filled nightmare for me. If I don't bring Koko then my best hope is to try and lock it into something non-threatening with Lopunny (and they always click Moonblast vs. Lopunny) or bust through it with Aegislash (which doesn't work if they're Calm Mind). Golisopod is walled, Cresselia is walled, Garchomp can't do enough to win a 1v1. I think my best option is to put Poison Jab over either Garchomp's Outrage or Golisopod's Leech Life but both have yielded results for me so idk :/
Ferrothorn
I just lack the capacity to reliably break this thing. Garchomp has Fire Blast, Golisopod can usually overpower SpDef variants by spamming Leech Life, Aegi can Z-move and Lopunny obviously wins by outplaying Protects with Sub and clicking High Jump Kick, but it's very easy to find myself walled out of the game by this Pokémon alone.
Mimikyu
I'm not overly threatened by this thing, really, it's just tricky to play around. In theory, Lopunny beats this every time by locking it into Swords Dance or a Ghost move, but unfortunately, Z-moves ignore Encore, and with the advent of Let's Snuggle Forever, I've been forced to rely on Aegislash a lot more to take weaker Ghost hits and take it out that way. Return only OHKOs with like 5% chip damage as well which is annoying. If Disguise is down, then I have a much easier time thanks to Specs Thunderbolt, but it outpowers Golisopod, Play Roughs Garchomp and runs circles around Cress so it's difficult.
Mega Salamence
Okay so this isn't as bad as it once was. I have Cresselia now, which is capable of walling it out fairly convincingly; however, never underestimate a Mega Salamence. If it manages to outplay and/or outboost my Cresselia, then I have to pray Aegislash takes a hit basically. Tapu Koko doesn't stand a chance unless Mence is unboosted so no hope there, Lopunny and Golisopod are useless against this, and Garchomp only revenge kills bulky spreads so at the very least it's taking heavy damage and locking into Outrage to deal with this. Not ideal, but not a dealbreaker.
Mega Blaziken
Only including here because Blaziken is broken enough to be threatening no matter what you bring. I have Cress for this, but Cress has its drawbacks against some common Blaziken teammates so it's hard to use. Past Cresselia, my best options are to try and 1v1 it with Lopunny (yay unexpected substitute), or to chip it into range of Golisopod's Aqua Jet, which does roughly 70%. Tapu Koko is a liability in this matchup.
Tapu Lele
Aegislash beats this and Koko can wipe Psychic Terrain but past that, this thing is just scary. Priority blocking means that Golisopod is put completely out of commission unless I can pull off some funky shit with Tapu Koko, and it's able to put the rest of the team on its ass with Moonblast alone, so ye I'm just overly reliant on Aegislash here. God forbid it's Taunt Sash.
Aegislash
Opposing Aegislash is scary for most of this team. Luckily, I have my outs for it in SubEncore Lopunny (as in the set that is specifically built to deal with Aegi), Scarf Garchomp and... fuck, that's p much it :/ Specs Koko can tear chunks out of it and my own Aegislash can sometime get lucky but Golisopod is too slow to do much more than eat a Shadow Ball and get forced out, and Cress is lol. Gotta play carefully around this to avoid getting smashed.
IMPORTABLE
NEW: PGL QR CODE!!!
(nb: log into pgl before clicking this, it's the rental team page on pgl ty)
REPLAYS
<<under construction>>
ok here's a few ps replays while i figure out sun/moon vs recorder
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-723539118
tapu koko+golisopod pivoting around scary threats to the team
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-723536162
golisopod can crack ferrothorn sometimes, especially if it's spdef and you crit every attack :^)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-723534462
why do people still think setting up on aegislash is a smart idea
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-712286814
lopunny doing its disruptive best + lunar dance is excellent
SHOUTS
cant say LegoFigure11 Hulavuta bobochan NOVED
basically all the closest battle spot people who have tolerated my sticking around and just been really solid friends for a really long time, especially jake and justin who've been around as long as i have, with all the same bite marks to show for it. enjoy this team and don't kick me out just yet pls. love you all <3
BYE NOW THANKS FOR READING
THIS HAS BEEN A TEAM SHOWCASE BY ESTEEMED USER: ethan06
OVERVIEW
Okay so I thought I'd drop an RMT for my 900th post, the last milestone to hit before the big 1k. This here is a team that I've been running for a couple months now, and I don't think I've ever felt this comfortable playing with a team in all the years I've been playing Pokémon. It's my personal take on the Tapu Koko + Golisopod core that many in the BSS community have been championing for a little while now (myself included), and it looks completely wack but I swear it works ^^ Read on to find out how~~~~
BUILDING PROCESS
So you're probably all familiar with the concept of this core: Fairy-Dragon-Steel, Aegislash checks opposing Fairies and takes hits, Tapu Koko pivots around and throws out Thunderbolts when it needs to, Garchomp throws out strong physical attacks, checks Fire-types like Volcarona and Charizard and keeps Electric-types from taking advantage of Koko's terrain. All fine and dandy, until this little piggy \\
Before I go any further, I should probably explain why I used Dugtrio for as long as I did. It's true that this Pokémon is kind of terrible, and perhaps I should've swapped it out for a more viable Ground-type sooner, but I felt that Dugtrio's superior Speed stat is just too important for managing boosted threats like Volcarona, Mega Charizard X and Salamence, and that Arena Trap had a very important role in removing certain Ground-weak threats from the game entirely (and ensuring that the things I wish to revenge-kill stay put while I murder them). Tapu Koko, Mega Gengar, Heatran, Excadrill, Alolan Muk and weakened Toxapex fall under this umbrella. Ultimately, I decided that these perks weren't enough to make up for Dugtrio's frailty and relative weakness, but enough on that later.
Now, while Tapu Koko is fast, there are some threats to this setup that you need something slightly faster for. Opposing Tapu Koko and Mega Gengar are both massive thorns in the side of this team, as well as opposing Aegislash, so I went with the godly Substitute + Encore Mega Lopunny to punish status users and get free Returns off on opposing teams.
Lastly, if you've played SM Battle Spot Singles for any length of time, then you'll recognise that this team has a problem with one particular Pokémon, and furthermore, you'll totally understand why I felt the need to dedicate an entire teamslot purely to checking it - I'm talking about the poultry scourge of BSS himself, Mega Blaziken. Latias is horrendously bulky, to the point that it's one of maybe four things in the entire format that can stand up to a +2 High Jump Kick. It's also nice to have a bit of neutral firepower on hand against bulkier teams with mons like Hippowdon, and Healing Wish is a useful tool to have when you're playing the Emergency Exit pivoting game. Having an actually durable mon on hand when I don't feel confident in my positioning is nice too when I need to soak up a heavy hit.
I left this team, and RMT, alone for quite a while before making this change; I was pleased with where the team was, but it still had some glaring issues that I felt I needed to revisit. The first was Dugtrio; if you read the RMT before this change, you'd know that I really struggled to justify Dugtrio over a better Ground-type, and that's because it was ass. It did its job, I guess, which was to outspeed most Salamence and Rock Tomb them down for Tapu Koko, and also to trap random Steel-types like Excadrill and Heatran, but it was far too frail to effectively act as the team's Electric answer and it didn't have the firepower or breadth of coverage to justify its spot on the team. Scarf Garchomp achieves much of the same things, including a comparable speed tier to Adamant Dugtrio, but it also has a more generally useful ability, access to a Fire move, more bulk, and slightly more firepower. It also serves as the team's primary check to Fire-types such as Volcarona now that Latias is gone, which brings me to the other change: Rocky Helmet Cresselia. This change achieves a couple of things for the team; it has more physical bulk than Latias, which means it can check both Blaziken and Salamence more effectively; it adds another form of passive damage with Rocky Helmet without compromising much on Latias' utility; and it sheds the Dragon typing, meaning that we actually have two solid answers to Mamoswine now! Yay! I reckon I'm happy with this version of the team, so this is how it's going to stay. Give it a shot maybe? Read the rest of the RMT first tho. <3
HAVE A PROPER LOOK AT THIS SQUAD FAM
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
- U-turn
This Pokémon is the leader of the team in more ways than one: not only does it take the first slot, but it is also one of the team's strongest members and finds itself being picked as a lead in most of the matches I bring it to. Choice Specs Tapu Koko is a stupidly strong and imo slept-on threat that dishes out ridiculously strong Thunderbolts and often unexpected Hidden Power Ices which have the capacity to wipe the likes of Garchomp, Gliscor and Mega Salamence from the game completely. I have two pivoting moves to allow myself the greatest amount of freedom in a lead matchup; in games with Ground-types present, it is helpful to have U-turn so that I'm not giving away free turns to such threatening switch-ins as Gliscor, Excadrill or Alolan Marowak. However, if there is no Electric immunity present, or I feel that the circumstances of a certain game make it unlikely that the opponent would wish to switch said immunity in at that time, then Volt Switch is a nice mix of the utility of U-Turn with the awe-inspiring strength of Terrain-boosted Specs Thunderbolt (albeit a teeny bit less). Damage is damage, and more is merrier.
~~~~
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Sneak
Ah, Aegislash. Easily my favourite thing about Battle Spot Singles ever since the dawn of XY, somehow simultaneously an immovable object and also an unstoppable force. Eat your heart out, Isaac Newton. Aegislash's role on this team is to use its peerless defensive typing to check scary threats like Tapu Lele, Mimikyu, Cloyster, Tapu Bulu, Mega Heracross, and Mega Kangaskhan, and to take advantage of them to throw out heavy hits, as well as to pressure physical setup mons with King's Shield and remove entire Pokémon from the game with Never-Ending Nightmare. It also makes for an okay last-ditch check to Mega Salamence if I allow it to get out of hand. All of my favourite teams have this thing on it, it's just so splashable and strong and humiliating people with KS mindgames is just far too much fun. If you haven't given it a shot yet in the current meta then do yourself a favour, it's great.
~~~~
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
Haha did you know this once used to be a Dugtrio? That was memey as fuck but ultimately pretty bad, so I made a necessary change and ended up with a much more reliable member for the team: Garchomp. Now, this has a slot on the team over Landorus-T for a couple reasons: Firstly, the Dragon typing lends this team its only proper Fire resistance; secondly, the Speed tier of 102 maintains Dugtrio's capacity for revenge killing +1 Volcarona and Mega Charizard X, as well as slower Mega Salamence variants; lastly, Fire Blast helps out tremendously against Ferrothorn even with a Jolly nature. I would've gone with Naive but I didn't want to compromise on bulk when I needed this to be able to switch in on things like Volcarona's Fiery Dance (and I also only had a Jolly one on cart and I got lazy...). Garchomp makes for a sturdy Electric immunity that I can feel more confident about switching in than Dugtrio, even if it does have unfortunate weaknesses to Hidden Power [Ice] and Dazzling Gleam. It won't die to one in most cases though, which makes it better. Rock Slide to take advantage of flinches, Outrage to reliably OHKO Mence.
~~~~
Ability: Emergency Exit
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Leech Life
- Aqua Jet
- Liquidation
I love this mon too. Golisopod surprised me when I started using it: yes, Emergency Exit is one hell of a double-edged sword, but First Impression hits like a goddamn truck on nearly everything (as in it does 40% to Tapu Koko...) and resisted physical hits literally bounce off. Life Orb is an item that you never really see on Golisopod but it's, in my opinion, the best, purely by virtue of the amount of control that it gives you over Golisopod's ability, allowing you to use your priority moves to turn Emergency Exit from a liability into a tool. Leech Life makes Golisopod helpful against bulky Psychics like Slowbro and Cresselia, and adds another element of HP management to Golisopod's playstyle. Liquidation is capable of 2HKOing Celesteela. The Speed investment allows you to outpace uninvested 31 Spe Adamant Hippowdon, making it easier to win the lead matchup. Similarly to Aegislash, if you haven't given this mon a shot yet, do so - it really is a lot of fun to play with and utterly smiting things with a First Impression out of nowhere hasn't gotten old for me yet.
~~~~
Ability: Limber
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Encore
- Return
- High Jump Kick
Lopunny is the fourth mon here that I just really enjoy using. Substitute + Encore is an incredibly disruptive set that's basically tailor-made to fuck with Aegislash, and it also almost never fails to get results against other things that Lopunny should, by rights, be losing to: status users and hazard setters like Celesteela, Hippowdon, Toxapex, and Ferrothorn all find themselves getting locked into Leech Seeds, Toxics, Yawns, Stealth Rocks, Thunder Waves... More often than not, this means free damage for me. Unfortunately, if Mega Lopunny does have a drawback, it's that it's not very strong, and so it often find itself getting walled and worn down by repeated Substitutes. Despite that, it's still invaluable against stall and offense alike, and Encore creates huge amounts of opportunity for the other team members to do some serious damage.
~~~~
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Lunar Dance
- Moonlight
Rocky Helmet Cresselia is about as cookie cutter as you can get, but it does wonders for the defensive backbone of this team. Essentially, I needed a reliable switch-in to Salamence and Blaziken in one slot, and while that sounds like an impossibly tall order, Cresselia is more than capable of taking on the responsibility. It has all of the capabilities of the last Pokémon to occupy this slot, Soul Dew Latias, but slightly bulkier and a shade more passive. What this means is that it can take on the things that Latias was meant to a little better, but it compromises on offensive firepower, instead relying on passive Rocky Helmet damage to chip things into range for its teammates. Lunar Dance is amazing for Golisopod, in that it allows me to continue to use Emergency Exit for pivoting purposes and affords me more Life Orb hits and First Impressions. It's nice for initiative as well, so this mon has a lot of utility as a partner for Tapu Koko + Golisopod games. Ice Beam + Toxic + Moonlight are fairly standard for Cress, but the three moves in tandem allow it to wear down scary boosting threats such as Mega Salamence and Mega Charizard X while remaining healthy.
~~~~
THREATLIST
Tapu Koko
I only have one Electric check on this team and for the most part it's excellent, but it does have an Achilles heel - weaknesses to Fairy and Ice. Tapu Koko has both of these at its disposal, which makes Garchomp a shaky switch-in. If I lose Garchomp, generally my best call is to try and overpower it with my own Koko. Past that I'm fucked if Aegi can't take a hit (although it ate Gigavolt Havoc once so anything is possible).
Tapu Fini
Tapu Fini is an odd thing to be afraid of for any team but seriously, it 6-0s this team without any issues whatsoever. The only foolproof way I have to so much as touch it is Tapu Koko, and you only have to pair it with any Ground-type to turn this matchup into a prediction-filled nightmare for me. If I don't bring Koko then my best hope is to try and lock it into something non-threatening with Lopunny (and they always click Moonblast vs. Lopunny) or bust through it with Aegislash (which doesn't work if they're Calm Mind). Golisopod is walled, Cresselia is walled, Garchomp can't do enough to win a 1v1. I think my best option is to put Poison Jab over either Garchomp's Outrage or Golisopod's Leech Life but both have yielded results for me so idk :/
Ferrothorn
I just lack the capacity to reliably break this thing. Garchomp has Fire Blast, Golisopod can usually overpower SpDef variants by spamming Leech Life, Aegi can Z-move and Lopunny obviously wins by outplaying Protects with Sub and clicking High Jump Kick, but it's very easy to find myself walled out of the game by this Pokémon alone.
Mimikyu
I'm not overly threatened by this thing, really, it's just tricky to play around. In theory, Lopunny beats this every time by locking it into Swords Dance or a Ghost move, but unfortunately, Z-moves ignore Encore, and with the advent of Let's Snuggle Forever, I've been forced to rely on Aegislash a lot more to take weaker Ghost hits and take it out that way. Return only OHKOs with like 5% chip damage as well which is annoying. If Disguise is down, then I have a much easier time thanks to Specs Thunderbolt, but it outpowers Golisopod, Play Roughs Garchomp and runs circles around Cress so it's difficult.
Mega Salamence
Okay so this isn't as bad as it once was. I have Cresselia now, which is capable of walling it out fairly convincingly; however, never underestimate a Mega Salamence. If it manages to outplay and/or outboost my Cresselia, then I have to pray Aegislash takes a hit basically. Tapu Koko doesn't stand a chance unless Mence is unboosted so no hope there, Lopunny and Golisopod are useless against this, and Garchomp only revenge kills bulky spreads so at the very least it's taking heavy damage and locking into Outrage to deal with this. Not ideal, but not a dealbreaker.
Mega Blaziken
Only including here because Blaziken is broken enough to be threatening no matter what you bring. I have Cress for this, but Cress has its drawbacks against some common Blaziken teammates so it's hard to use. Past Cresselia, my best options are to try and 1v1 it with Lopunny (yay unexpected substitute), or to chip it into range of Golisopod's Aqua Jet, which does roughly 70%. Tapu Koko is a liability in this matchup.
Tapu Lele
Aegislash beats this and Koko can wipe Psychic Terrain but past that, this thing is just scary. Priority blocking means that Golisopod is put completely out of commission unless I can pull off some funky shit with Tapu Koko, and it's able to put the rest of the team on its ass with Moonblast alone, so ye I'm just overly reliant on Aegislash here. God forbid it's Taunt Sash.
Aegislash
Opposing Aegislash is scary for most of this team. Luckily, I have my outs for it in SubEncore Lopunny (as in the set that is specifically built to deal with Aegi), Scarf Garchomp and... fuck, that's p much it :/ Specs Koko can tear chunks out of it and my own Aegislash can sometime get lucky but Golisopod is too slow to do much more than eat a Shadow Ball and get forced out, and Cress is lol. Gotta play carefully around this to avoid getting smashed.
IMPORTABLE
Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
- U-turn
Aegislash @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Sneak
Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
Golisopod @ Life Orb
Ability: Emergency Exit
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Leech Life
- Aqua Jet
- Liquidation
Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Encore
- Return
- High Jump Kick
Cresselia @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Lunar Dance
- Moonlight
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
- U-turn
Aegislash @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Sneak
Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
Golisopod @ Life Orb
Ability: Emergency Exit
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Leech Life
- Aqua Jet
- Liquidation
Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Encore
- Return
- High Jump Kick
Cresselia @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Lunar Dance
- Moonlight
NEW: PGL QR CODE!!!
(nb: log into pgl before clicking this, it's the rental team page on pgl ty)
REPLAYS
<<under construction>>
ok here's a few ps replays while i figure out sun/moon vs recorder
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-723539118
tapu koko+golisopod pivoting around scary threats to the team
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-723536162
golisopod can crack ferrothorn sometimes, especially if it's spdef and you crit every attack :^)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-723534462
why do people still think setting up on aegislash is a smart idea
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-712286814
lopunny doing its disruptive best + lunar dance is excellent
SHOUTS
cant say LegoFigure11 Hulavuta bobochan NOVED
basically all the closest battle spot people who have tolerated my sticking around and just been really solid friends for a really long time, especially jake and justin who've been around as long as i have, with all the same bite marks to show for it. enjoy this team and don't kick me out just yet pls. love you all <3
BYE NOW THANKS FOR READING
THIS HAS BEEN A TEAM SHOWCASE BY ESTEEMED USER: ethan06
Last edited:
