Resource LC Teambuilding Project V2

[Fiend]

[What To Use]

The Rapture (Shellder) @ Eviolite
Ability: Skill Link
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 76 SpD / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Razor Shell / Icicle Spear
- Ice Shard
- Rock Blast

Roles: Physical Sweeper

What It Does: Shell Smash is the key component of Shellder's viability, especially when used alongside Skill Link. Rock Blast benefits from Skill Link while also deals with Flying and Fire-type threats, such as Archen and Wild Charge Larvesta, respectively, also scoring a neutral hit on Water-type Pokemon so they don't wall Shellder to oblivion. Razor Shell is a fantastic option, gaining STAB and providing fantastic coverage along side Rock Blast. Yet, Icicle Spear can be used to fully utilize Skill Link, but using this instead of Razor Shell will make Steel-types a bit more difficult to deal with. Icicle Spear does, however, give Shellder the ability to break through Grass-type Pokemon far easier. Ice Shard allows Shellder to bypass Fletchling before it can hit Shellder with a priority Acrobatics, scoring the KO after Stealth Rock when at +2. Additionally, with proper prediction, it causes Sucker Punch to fail. Here, Eviolite is used over White Herb as it not only grants an increase in Defense and Special Defense before Shell Smash, but also nullifies the drops afterwards.

Good Teammates: If Shellder runs Icicle Spear instead of Razor Shell, Steel-types can be a problem. Magnemite and Diglett are both great teammates as they easily trap and eliminate these pokemon. On the other hand, if Razor Shell is run over Icicle Spear instead, Foongus and Doduo pair well with Shellder in aiding the removal of opposing Grass-types. Knock Off support can aid Shellder in weakening bulky Fighting-types and other physical behemoths such as Spritzee. Memento users such as Koffing, Cottonee, and Drifloon provide Shellder with much easier set up. Stealth Rock support is a great asset to Shellder, letting it secure several KOes and break past Magnemite.

What Counters It: Shellder's counter are dependant on what it is running. Common Fighting-types, such as Mienfoo and Timburr, tend to be bulky enough to take Shellder's Icicle Spear multiple times and can normally fire back a Drain Punch Back for the KO. Croagunk gets a special mention for hard walling any Shellder lacking Icicle Spear, and revenging those who do run it. Pawniard and Magnemite are also able to sponge numerous attacks from shellder providing none of them are Razor Shell. If Razor Shell is run over Icicle Spear, Foongus and Cottonee pose quite the problem for Shellder. Additionally, pokemon with decent bulk and Berry Juice are able to revenge Shellder, for example Chinchou and Stunky, as are most walls (with Eviolite still).



[What To Use]

Cubone @ Thick Club
Ability: Battle Armor
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 196 Atk / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bonemerang / Earthquake
- Rock Tomb
- Knock Off
- Fire Punch / Swords Dance

Roles: Wallbreaker

What It Does: Cubone shatters even the metagme's most defensive walls thanks to the item, Thick Club, doubling Cubone's attack. With Thick Club, Cubone reaches an astounding 28 attack with an neutral nature. This monstrous attack is sturdily supported with Cubone's movepool, leaving a grand total of zero safe switch ins for this beast. Bonemerang allows Cubone to bypass Sturdy (sometimes) and Focus Sash pokemon, especially useful with Sticky Web support, however using Earthquake is also an option to avoid untimely misses. Rock Tomb is a perfect second move, allowing Cubone to outpace the entire unboosted metagame and providing EdgeQuake coverage, while also remaining powerful enough (and more accurate than the other alternatives). Knock Off is Cubone's third move, allowing pokemon to be crippled easily while also securing the 2HKO on Berry Juice pokemon and Lileep/Slowpoke. Lastly, Fire Punch is used over Swords Dance to defeat Ferroseed with much more ease, however Swords Dance allows Cubone to OHKO almost entire tier, save a few select pokemon.

Good Teammates: Torchic is an obvious pairing with Cubone, as Torchic can pass both Speed and attack boosts to Cubone, letting it annihilate everything if successful. Archen can set up Stealth Rock for Cubone allowing it to secure more KOes after a Swords Dance, while also providing a decent answer to the numerous Fighting types who'll try to land a Knock Off on Cubone. Mienfoo, Trubbish, and Shellos each easily sponge the Knock Offs aimed at Cubone, eash with their individual perks; Mienfoo is just a generally great pokemon which can easily deal with most Knock Off users while also retaining insane longevity, Trubbish provides hazard support for Cubone, securing everything dies if they come in on two layers of spikes when Cubone is at +2, and Shellos has the perk of being amazingly bulky with burn support and reliable recovery. Sticky Web support is also a godsend for Cubone, letting it outspeed much more of the metagame, letting even less check it.

What Counters It: Nothing actually can boast to counter Cubone. However, a fair amount of pokemon can revenge kill Cubone or cripple it. For example, Mienfoo can take one hit, then cripple with Knock Off, and then switch out again for Regenerator. Staryu can abuse Cubone's lower Speed and Special Defense KO with Scald. Vulpix outspeeds and KOes as well. Eviolite Aipom beats Cubone with the combination of Knock Off and Fury Swipes/Seed Bomb.

Any Additional Info: Don't let it get a pass from Torchic, or set an SD with Sticky Web support. Also actively try to hit Cubone with a Knock Off, it makes Cubone useless usually.

 

[Asterya]

What To Use :

Chinchou @ Eviolite
Ability: Volt Absorb
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 212 Def / 148 SpD / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Scald
- Discharge

Role: Mixed wall, Tank, Support.

What It Does: Thanks to the RestTalk combo, Chinchou is able to take huge damage then recover it all, while not being completely vulnerable when asleep. That's why it performs its role well checking top-tier mons and working as a status absorber. Scald is the prefered main move as it have that 30% burn chance which is really usefull crippling physical sweepers, while discharge is used because or it's decent paralysis chance and that's really really helpful for supporting teammates. The spread is standard, because it allows Chinchou to reach eviolite numbers and having a great bulk while reaching 14 speed that enables it to tie with bulky mienfoo, bulky archen and opposing bulky chinchou while outspeeding larvesta, vullaby and modest magnemite. Bold is used for physical bulk and berry juice is just useless in this set because it can recover all the damage with rest, so eviolite is the best item.

Good Teammates: Flying-types can cover its Grass weakness quite well, and have an immunity to the Ground-type moves that target Chinchou. Vullaby is effective, as it has great bulk to complement it, access to U-turn for gaining momentum and immunity to Spore from Foongus who often switches into Chinchou. Fletchling also makes a great partner for more offensively inclined teams, as it also can gain momentum with u-turn and immediately threaten Chinchous checks due to its strong priority. Fighting-types can help remove bulky Normal-types, such as Lickitung, who can easily switch in any attack, and Porygon, who can Trace Volt Absorb to gain an immunity to Discharge. Grass-types of your own can help weaken opposing Chinchou, as well as Ground-types that can switch-in safely.

What Counters It: Bulky Grass-types can safely switch in on any attack and threaten it with their STAB, Ferroseed and Foongus are two that function particularly well at this, having great bulk and Regenerator in Foongus' case. Timburr and Croagunk can check it well, as Timburr does not fear Scald Burns or Discharge Paralysis due to Guts and Croagunk has immunity to Water through Dry Skin. Ground-types can threaten Chinchou if they switch in on the proper move, Drilbur and Diglett both outspeed Chinchou and Diglett can also trap it with Arena Trap.

Any Additional Info: A spread of 76 HP / 132 Def / 228 SpD / 60 Spe with a Calm nature can also work, granting it 25 / 18 / 24 defenses instead so it can take special attacks better while having a good defense. Volt switch could be used over discharge to gain momentum against some pokemon and form voltturn cores. Heal Bell is also a good choice used to remove all status that may make the teammates struggle.

 

[Aerow]

Good work! insanelegend (Trubbish), Dhaora (Spritzee and Koffing), Corporal Levi (Lickitung and Slowpoke), Max Carvalho (Doduo and Larvesta), would be great guys if you could finish your sets soon! :) If you don't have time to finish a set, just shoot me a VM. Also, updated the thread with the new completed sets.

Current list of Pokemon that still needs a set:

Defensive Vullaby
Wynaut
Darumaka
Clamperl
Poliwag
Magby
Stunky
Staryu

 

[gali]

reserving cranidos and goth

 

[Aerow]

Reserving Bellsprout.

 

[Asterya]

Reserving Snover here

 

[Eren Yeagar]

[What To Use]

Aipom @ Life Orb / Eviolite
Ability: Skill Link
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 76 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Fury Swipes
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Role: Fast Pivot, Wallbreaker

What It Does: Aipom has really good attack stat along with an amazing speed of 19. It's also got access to fake out, which always goes first and flinches your opponent on the first turn Aipom is out. Having fake out is amazing since after one fake out, you can OHKO almost any LC poke with fury swipes and since Aipom's ability is skill link, fury swipes will always get 5 hits in a row. With the buff of knock off this generation, Aipom can easily just knock off an incoming switch-in, get rid of its item, and go for a U-Turn for offensive momentum or go for fury swipes for the OHKO. This is really helpful since most pokemon in LC carry eviolite, that will soften up for Aipom or one of your other pokemon in your team kill it. Life Orb for Aipom is a godly item because it will power up each fury swipes hit by 1.3, which is awesome and can almost 2HKO the entire metagame. Eviolite, of course is always useful in LC if you want some more bulk and you don't want to lose some of your HP due to life orb.

Good Teammates: Gastly could be a good partner for Aipom since they both cover eachother's weaknesses quite well and can play some mind games, but you do have to be aware of fighting types that carry knock off. Or you can just use substitute disable gastly if you want to screw up fighting types. Abra could be a really good partner too because a lot of offensive pressure will be put on your opponent as Abra and Aipom with a life orb are one of the hardest hitters in this current metagame and great wallbreakers. Just about anything that can cover its fighting weakness, and support Aipom/your whole team will do a decent job.

What Counters It: Not much can counter Aipom well. Ferroseed is one of the best counters since it could take fury swipes hits for days and has Iron Barbs, which means if Aipom uses fury swipes, it'll take around half its HP down, which is so bad for Aipom. Flame Body Ponyta is also another counter Aipom since every fury swipes hit will have a 30% to burn Aipom itself due to flame body and a burned Aipom is a worthless Aipom. Larvesta also has the same role too as one of the best Aipom counters.

Any Additional Information: You could swap out fake out for Ice Punch or Brick Break. Ice Punch is to deal with Archen and OHKO it. Brick Break is also useful for steel types especially Pawniard and Magnemite. Ice Punch and Brick Break are viable, but most of time you want to keep fake out for those shell smashers and flinching other opponents. It all depends on what your team needs.

 

[Aerow]

[What To Use]

Bellsprout @ Eviolite / Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 5
EVs: 36 HP / 76 Def / 196 SpA / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
- Solar Beam
- Sludge Bomb
- Weather Ball
- Sleep Powder

Role: Special Sweeper, Wallbreaker, Late-game cleaner

What It Does: Bellsprout is an excellent Chlorophyll-sweeper thanks to good Special Attack, access to Weather Ball as well as decent Speed. Bellsprout is also a great wallbreaker and late-game cleaner. Solar Beam requires no charging under strong sunlight, and is therefore a strong and reliable Grass-type STAB move. Sludge Bomb is also a STAB move, and hits Fairy-types as well as Grass-types for super-effective damage. Weather Ball is a great move, and allows Bellsprout to get through Steel-types such as Pawniard and Magnemite, and Grass/Poison-types such as Foongus. Sleep Powder is great for bypassing Sucker Punch, while also making it easier to get through special walls such as Porygon. Thanks to Bellsprout's ability Chlorophyll, it hits 26 Speed under sunlight, allowing it to even outspeed 16 and 17 Speed Choice Scarf users. For item, you can use either Eviolite or Life Orb. Eviolite allows Bellsprout to switch-in versus weaker attacks, while Life Orb gives Bellsprout better wallbreaking capabilities.

Good Teammates: Sunny Day support is mandatory for a Chlorophyll-sweeper like Bellsprout. Vulpix is able to automatically set up eight turns of sunlight with Drought if Heat Rock is used, and is therefore undoubtedly the best teammate for Bellsprout. Teammates with Knock Off help Bellsprout clean late-game by removing Eviolite's from the opposing team. Pawniard is therefore a good teammate, and is able to deal with Fletchling while also having a good typing synergy with Bellsprout.

What Counters It: Special walls, such as RestTalk Munchlax is one of the best counters to Bellsprout. Munchlax can shrug off any unboosted attack from Bellsprout, and also being able to OHKO Bellsprout with a sun-boosted Fire Punch. Porygon is also a huge problem for Bellsprout, as it can paralyze Bellsprout with Thunder Wave, while not getting hurt too badly by Bellsprout's moves. Chespin is another great counter thanks to Bulletproof, making Chespin immune to Ball- and Bomb-moves such as Sludge Bomb and Weather Ball, while Chespin already resists Solar Beam and is immune to Sleep Powder. Flying-types are also huge threats for Bellsprout, especially Fletchling due to its access to a 110 Base Power +1 priority Flying-type move, which easily OHKOes Bellsprout.

Any Additional Information: A physical set may look interesting because of Bellsprout's high Attack stat, but is mostly outclassed by the special set due to lackluster coverage.

 

[Fiend]

Reserving Riolu
(cubone is done)

 

[Aerow]

Reserving Sandshrew

 

[Max Carvalho]

Doduo

Hide

[What to Use]

Bird is the word (Doduo) Life Orb
Ability: Early Bird
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 240 Spe
Naive / Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Knock Off
- Quick Attack
- Hidden Power Fighting / Return

Role: Wallbreaker

What it does: Doduo stands out on being an amazing wallbreaker as powerful as the banned Murkrow. Brave Bird is basically going to 2HKO or KO everything that doesn't resist it, while Knock Off eases Doduo's and its teammates's burden. It should be noted that Doduo is the only Flying-type used in birdspam that has access to Knock Off. Quick Attack is here mainly for revenge killing weakened threats that would otherwise threaten Doduo with its priority moves such as Timburr and Fletchling. Hidden Power Fighting is Doduo only way to hit Pawniard which is otherwise a safe switch in to Doduo. Return is also an option to hit Electric-types, mainly Chinchou. The EVs are straight forward; they maximize Attack and give Doduo an odd 18 Speed stat, allowing it to outspeed max speed Mienfoo while Life Orb eases Doduo's wallbreaking. Early Bird is useful to switch in on Foongus's Spore as you will wake up quickly. 19 IVs in HP are demanded to reduce Life Orb's recoil.

Good teammates: Fletchling is a good teammate as Doduo weakens Fletchling counters a lot, especially with Knock Off support. Chinchou has also a good defensive core with Doduo and brings it with safe via Volt Switch. Anything weak to Fighting-types appreciate Doduo so Pawniard stands as another great teammate. Hazard setters are always useful, so Drilbur and Archen can be potential teammates; they can provide hazard removal support as well which improve Doduo's longevity. Overall, any birdspam team will appreciate having Doduo.

What Counters it: Most Steel-types can easily switch in and wall Doduo. This includes Pawniard, which can KO Doduo with some mind games with Sucker Punch. Rock-types such as Archen also resists both of Doduo's STABs and due to Doduo being incredibly frail, all of them threaten Doduo for the KO with theirs Rock-type moves. A Rock-type threat that doesn't fear anything at full health from Doduo is Tirtouga, especially defensive one. Archen is another great check, but can't switch in with ease due to Knock Off bringing it to Defeatist range. Chinchou can switch in Doduo if its set lack Return. The only wall that doesn't resist any of Doduo's STABs yet tottaly wall Doduo is Hippopotas, which has access to reliable recovery in Slack Off.

Any Additional Info: Doduo can also function as a Late-Game Cleaner with Choice Scarf but you've got way better options for that, such as Scraggy and Carvanha. Pursuit is also an option to trap weakened threats.

Larvesta

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[What to use]

Larvesta @Eviolite
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 236 Atk / 156 Def / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Flare Blitz
- Morning Sun
- Will-O-Wisp / Sunny Day

Roles: Pivot, Bulky Attacker, Support.

What it does: Larvesta is a reliable pivot with STAB in U-turn, a strong attacker with powerful STAB in Flare Blitz, a solid switch-in to Pawniard and most Fighting-types, and even a supporter with Sunny Day, which Larvesta stands as an incredible user of it due to a slow U-turn and as such, safely bringing Chlorophyll users, and Will-O-Wisp which burns physical attackers without relying on Flame Body. It has as well a nice defensive typing, awesome ability in Flame Body which is even better due to some of Larvesta's resistances, and Morning Sun so it can heal Stealth Rock and opposing Pokemon damage. 76 EVs in HP are used so Larvesta can hit an odd number thus being able to switch in Stealth Rock twice. Max Attack is necessary to hit as hard as possible. The rest is put in Defense so Larvesta can tank physical hits better. Eviolite is the prefered item to increase Larvesta's defenses even further. Larvesta will always proceed to wall any Fighting-type bar Timburr which could take an advantage of a burn.

Good teammates: When teambuilding with Larvesta you should always add some form of hazard removal such as Defog and Rapid Spin. Good users of these moves include Vullaby and Drilbur, the former being able to form a VoltTurn core and provides Knock Off support while Vullaby really appreciates Larvesta beating Pawniard, and the latter covering Larvesta's Rock-type weakness while also checking Fletchling. Chinchou beats opposing Water-types and also happens to beat Fletchling. Speaking of VoltTurn, this kind of team usually finds it good to have Larvesta on a slot as it's an incredible U-turn user and one of the few viable ones that have STAB on it. Bellsprout, Oddish, and Bulbasaur apprecites Larvesta's weather support as they will be able to beat the annoying Water-types. Foongus is another Grass-type that synergizes well with Larvesta and beats Water-types. Ferroseed can provide hazards and Thunder Wave support, which is always nice to have, and take out Rock-type attacks. Finnaly, Pawniard formes a great core with Larvesta, with Pawniard being able to beat Fletchling, and Larvesta being a solid switch in to Fighting-types.

What counters it: The obvious counter to Larvesta is Stealth Rock. It can't come in safely at all with Stealth Rock up. While it's other counters can be bypassed by U-turn, some good switch-ins to Larvesta include Water-types such as Chinchou and Staryu, that can switch in any attack and KO Larvesta with theirs Water-type STAB. Omanyte doesn't care about being burned, sets up Shell Smash or hazards with ease, and takes nothing from Flare Blitz as well. Fire-types such as Ponyta resist to both Larvesta's STABs and are immune to burn, being another solid counters. Finnaly, Rock-types such as Archen and Onix or anything with a Rock-type move like Drilbur can KO Larvesta fairly easy, but none of them likes to switch in on Will-O-Wisp.

Additional Info: Wild Charge can be run to hit Water-types, and a Choice Scarf set is fairly good in VoltTurn teams.

 

[Eren Yeagar]

[What To Use]

Vulpix @ Life Orb / Choice Specs / Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Level: 5
EVs: 52 HP / 196 SpA / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Energy Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flamethrower

Role: Wallbreaker, Late-Game Cleaner

What It Does: Vulpix has the niche of being the only pokemon in LC to have the ability Drought, which is amazing since you don't have to use a turn to set up sun and you can just abuse fire moves while the sun is still up. Fire Blast is a nice 110 based power and STAB move that hits super hard when sun is up or not. Energy Ball is for good coverage on rock types and water types. Will-O-Wisp is for crippling physical attackers and letting vulpix survive longer and help out the team with threats. Flamethrower in the last slot is also a good STAB move that has less power than Fire Blast, but has more accuracy, so you could use Flamethrower when you know it's going to KO your opponent and you don't have to risk the miss with fire blast and conserve more PP for it too. You do have 3 good items to choose from for Vulpix. Life Orb is for amazing power for your already sun boosted and STAB Fire Blast and other moves, but takes 10% recoil. Choice Specs is if you want the most power with all your powerful special attacks, and get more OHKOs, but you will be locked into one move. Heat Rock also is a very good item for vulpix since it makes the drought(5 turns - got nerfed this generation) to 8 turns, which is very helpful since every turn you use in the sun is very critical. All these items have little flaws and can help Vulpix and your team immensely.

Good Teammates: Vulpix has a lot of good teammates. First of all, Bellsprout is an amazing teammate for Vulpix because Bellsprout covers a lot of Vulpix's weaknesses and with chlorophyll and Vulpix setting the sun up, can sweep with its high special attack, and also access to solarbeam, weather ball, sludge bomb, and sleep powder, which is very good for Bellsprout. Bulbasaur and Oddish are also relatively good partners for Vulpix since they have chlorophyll, but Bellsprout outclasses them, but you could still use them. Vulpix also needs a defogger such as Archen or a rapid spinner like Drilbur to deal with hazards since Vulpix has to switch out to a sun sweeper and then most likely come back in to set up sun again, so you really want something to deal with hazards since vulpix needs to set up sun without getting hurt every time.

What Counters It: Munchlax is a very big counter to Vulpix since it can tank special hits for days, shrug off the Will-O-Wisp with rest and can take down vulpix and the other sun abusers quite well. Focus Sash Diglett is also a counter to Vulpix since it traps Vulpix with Arena Trap and can't switch in to a sun abuser and then diglett goes for the OHKO with earthquake on Vulpix. Also, Mantyke is a counter since it has amazing special defense and can tank all of Vulpix's and the other sun abusers hits very well. Plus, since it's a physical attacker, it doesn't really care about Will-O-Wisp too.

Any Additional Information: You can put Quick Attack in Flamethrower's slot because when Diglett comes in, it uses its sash, and then you could quick attack and kill it. A bit risky though, but you could use it or you can just predict the switch and use Will-O-Wisp.

 

[Aerow]

[What to use]

Sandshrew @ Eviolite
Ability: Sand Rush
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 236 Atk / 76 Def / 36 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide / Knock Off
- Knock Off / Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance / Rapid Spin

Role: Physical Sweeper, Late-game cleaner, Hazard remover, Hazard Setter, Bulky Attacker

What It Does: Sandshrew is an interesting Pokemon that can perform two very different roles; support and Sand Rush sweeper. Sandshrew is a great Pokemon for hazard control, being able to set up both Stealth Rock, as well as removing the opponents hazards with Rapid Spin. Sandshrew can also help teammates by removing the opponents items with Knock Off. Sandshrew's great physical bulk lets it do this with ease, and Sandshrew also hits very hard thanks to base 75 Attack. Sandshrew is also a great Sand Rush sweeper on sandstorm teams, and can form a Double Rush core with Drilbur, breaking walls to make it easier for both of them to sweep. Earthquake is a mandatory Ground-type STAB move, while Rock Slide hits Flying-types such as Fletchling, Archen, and Vullaby. For the third moveslot Sandshrew can use Knock Off or Stealth Rock if you need hazards. Same goes for the fourth moveslot, where Swords Dance is great for Sandshrew used as a sweeper, but is mostly useless without sandstorm. For item, you should always use Eviolite for support Sandshrew. However, both Eviolite and Life Orb are viable options if you want to use Sandshrew as a Sand Rush sweeper.

Good Teammates: Sandshrew works extremely well as a Sand Rush sweeper on sandstorm teams, Hippopotas is therefore a great teammate, as well as Drilbur. Teammates who loves hazard control will also enjoy having Sandshrew on the team, being able to set up Stealth Rock and remove the opponents hazards.

What Counters It: Bulkier Pokemon such as Ferroseed, Lileep, Cottonee, Koffing, Porygon can easily stop a sweep from Sandshrew unless it has already boosted with Swords Dance, also hitting it hard with a super-effective move or burning it. Special Attackers often beats Sandshrew due to it's awful special bulk.

Any Additional Information: More Speed EVs can be used to outspeed 15 Speed or more Choice Scarf users.

 

[Asterya]

[What To Use]

Snover @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 104 Atk / 184 SpA / 200 Spe
Naive Nature
- Blizzard
- Giga Drain
- Ice Shard
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ground / Hidden Power Rock

Role: Special Sweeper, Late-game Cleaner, Revenge Killer, Lure (Hidden Power ?), Mixed Attacker.

What It Does: Scarf Snover is its set number #1 because of its ability to revenge kill threats and spamming Blizzard with 100% accuracy because of hail support. Giga drain is here for a second STAB and for shutting down water types such as Chinchou and Staryu, while Ice Shard is for priority and to deal some damage to Fletchling. Then comes the Hidden Power choice : Fire is for steel and fire types mainly like Ferroseed and Ponyta, Ground is to score the 0HKO on Magnemite and rock is used to hit Larvesta really hard. The spread is standard so we use maximum speed to hit the 14 speed and it becomes 21 with the Choice Scarf, the maximised special attack is to hit as hard as possible with a neutral nature, while the rest is invested in HP for extra bulk. Naive is used as the nature for the mixed set because Snover prefers special defense drop to attack drop.

Good Teammates: Snover is weak to stealth rocks, and luckily, it has got a great synergy with most of rapid spinners and defoggers such as Drilbur, Archen and Staryu that can easily eliminate Fire and Steel types who resist Blizzard spam. Every pokemon that can switch into Fletchling is a good partner, for example Chinchou because it easily beats it and can keep momentum with Volt Switch while also being able to win against Fire types.

What Counters It: In this meta, Fletchling is Snover's main problem because of priority Acrobatics. Fire types are also huge issues due to that x4 fire weakness. However, Snover can beat some or them with a right prediction and a right Hidden Power. There are also many fighting types in this meta which makes it less viable such as Mienfoo and Timburr. Pawniard easily beats it or just Knocks Off its Scarf so it will be kinda useless for the rest of the game.

Any Additional Info: To be honest i think that Snover is one of the best Drilbur checks that many offensive teams lack so it can Giga Drain to restore some health. However it is weak to rock type attacks so you should be careful from a well-timed Rock Slide! I should also mention the Eviolite with 36 HP / 104 Atk / 40 Def / 184 SpA / 120 SpD and a calm nature to benefit from it's bulk gaines from Eviolite but i really think that the Scarf set is way better and more-adapted to this meta!

 

[Jho]

Reserving Growlithe

 

[Eren Yeagar]

Reserving Torchic

 

[Eren Yeagar]

[What To Use]

Torchic @ Focus Sash / Berry Juice
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 5
EVs: 156 HP / 76 SpA / 40 SpD / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
- Protect
- Swords Dance
- Fire Blast / Substitute
- Baton Pass

Role: Support

What It Does: Torchic is one of the best baton passers in this meta because of it has access to speed boost, which is an amazing ability since it gets +1 speed every turn. With this, Torchic can pass many speed boosts and possibly a swords dance to a sweeper or you can continue a baton pass chain. Protect is to safely get a +1 boost for speed from speed boost and you can scout what your opponent is going to do. Swords dance is your main set up move to give to your physical sweepers and then possibly sweep a ton of opponents. Fire Blast and Substitute are both good options for Torchic too. Fire Blast is for some good STAB damage and can definitely KO some of your team's problems. Substitute is also good so you don't get status ailments like being paralyzed or being taunted, but if you want to use Substitute on Torchic, you don't use Focus Sash as an item. Instead, you use Berry Juice to get more Substitutes up and if you Substitute and you have a Focus Sash, it's a waste of an item. Also, Focus Sash for Torchic is good since you're basically guarenteed to get a Swords Dance off and 3 speed boosts, which is awesome.

Good Teammates: Many pokemon in LC are good teammates for Torchic. You really want to have a defogger or rapid spinner to make sure Torchic can stay alive and just be death fodder after it passes to a sweeper and the sweeper failed to sweep. Physical attackers that don't have a lot of speed like Cubone and Pawniard are also good options for Torchic to pass into. Physical sweepers in general are good teammates with Torchic since they're almost guarenteed +2 attack and +3 speed. Not just physical sweepers, but all kinds of sweepers like Torchic's pass too.

What Counters It: Fletchling is a big counter to Torchic because of Gale Wings and Torchic won't get a chance to Baton Pass and then Torchic is basically useless. Priority is Torchic's biggest weakness since Torchic is rather frail and Baton Pass isn't a priority move, so it'll just die for nothing. Multi-hit moves also can be a problem for Torchic too. Since Aipom is rather common, it can just fury swipes away and kill Torchic, even if you got a Substitute up. Shellder can set up on Torchic and can take a lot of Fire Blasts and can possibly ruin whatever Torchic passes too.

Any Additional Information: You can use Reversal Torchic in the Fire Blast / Substitute slot if you have a Focus Sash and then when you're knocked down to or close to 1 HP, you can spam a 200-based power fighting move, but it's kind of worthless since Torchic doesn't really have that much attack and it'll possibly be revenge killed. It's a possible set though.

 

[Jho]

[What to use]

Growlithe @ Eviolite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 5
EVs: 236 HP / 156 Def / 116 SpD
Careful Nature
- Wild Charge
- Flare Blitz
- Morning Sun
- Will-O-Wisp

Role: Physical wall, tank, Status-er

What it does: Growlithe is an excellent physical wall that excels in taking hits because of its ability (intimidate) lowering the enemy's attack stat along with Morning sun for recovery and will-o-wisp for further decreasing the attack of the enemy and adding some sustained DoT to help stall out the enemy if you choose to.
Wild charge is for hitting physical attackers you have already reduced the attack of,to the point where you can take a STAB x2 from them. Wild Charge is best used against physical flying types (mainly Fletchling) as they prove the least threatening to Growlithe.
Flare Blitz is for the STAB Boosted damage to hit anything that doesn't resist it for decent damage, but as Growlithe is more of a wall don't expect big damage numbers.

Counters: Cinchou-Resists both its attacking moves and isn't bothered by a will o wisp or attack drop, as well as hitting Growlithe hard with scald.
Like most other walls, it doesn't want to lose its eviolite so knock off is something you want to avoid if you can.
Pawniard- Defiant is horrible to the Intimidating Growlithe, as it gives Pawniard a +1 boost to its attack which it can use to sweep/severely damage your team. It's just a good idea to not let it do that

Team Mates: Growlithe likes team mates who can take hits it doesn't want to, like STAB boosted waterfalls and earthquakes. Cottonee is a good choice as its a great switch in to Drillbur and Corphish, common threats which can pack a punch to Growlithe.
You can also make a nice intimidate core with Scraggy and Snubbul and completely shut down physical threats on your enemy's team.

 

[Fiend]

[What To Use]

Riolu @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 196 Atk / 116 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch / High Jump Kick
- Blaze Kick / Poison Jab
- Swords Dance
- Copycat

Roles: Physical Sweeper

What It Does: Riolu is a arguably the most powerful baby pokemon, capable of sweeping teams with its priority High Jump Kicks. This fascinating niche is thanks to Riolu's ability: Prankster. Prankster works wonderfully with Swords Dance, allowing Riolu to get to +2 before it can be Taunted by opposing pokemon. Once at +2, Drain punch can be used used as the primary STAB letting Riolu stay relatively healthy throughout the match. Alternatively, High Jump Kick can be used for the raw power it brings to the table, granting a few 2HKOes and 1HKOes occur. However, High Jump Kick does have the downside of missing occasionally causing Riolu to lose half of its health, and thus is usually considered the inferior option. The next move option is dependent on Riolu will have trouble with according to what your team can handle. For instance, if Spritzee can not be reliably KOed or put in range for Riolu to beat KO, then Poison Jab might be more tailored to your team than Blaze Kick. Alternatively, Blaze Kick can be run to KO Eviolite-less Foongus and 2HKOing Croagunk while still hitting also still hitting Cottonee and the bulky Grass-Ghost types. Blaze Kick also allows Gastly to he hit hard enough to be KOed. And most importantly is CopyCat: the centerpiece of this moveset. Copycat has ungodly synergy with Prankster, granting Riolu access to a priority version of whatever move was last used. This can be abused by letting back-to-back Drain Punches be fired off or nabbing a Volt Switch or U turn from a teammate to preserve momentum.

Good Teammates: Volt-Turn users such as Chinchou, Mienfoo, Magnemite, or Larvesta can often be used to get Riolu in safely allowing it cause all the havoc it can. Or Riolu can copycat their Volt Switch or U-Turn to preserve momentum. Chinchou and Magnemite both especially have synergy with Riolu, handling the Flying Types (usually just 15 speed Fletch) who would potentially cause problems for Riolu. Additionally, Pawniard and Trubbish would be a great check for Spritzee and Cottonee who tend to trouble Riolu.

What Counters It: Slowpoke can sponge any hit Riolu can dish out and can cripple Riolu with a Scald burn or defeat it with Psychic. Trubbish and Ekans are both able to switch in on Riolu and retaliate with a decently powerful Gunk Shot. Tentacool is another option to take on Riolu, performing similarly to Slowpoke. Riolu also fails to break past Koffing, who burns and 3HKOes after burn damage.

Any Additional Info: Before the advent of the Misdreavus's ban, Crunch was superior to both Blaze Kick and Poison Jab. However, now that Misdreavus is banned, the need to hit Ghost-types Super Effectively has diminished and can be largely replaced by Blaze Kick, hitting Gastly, Pumpkaboo, and Phantump. Now, Crunch only hits the semi-relevant Slowpoke.

 

[Corporal Levi]

There are a few Pokemon I do not think belong under "what not to use". As a wallbreaker, I think Cubone is perfectly acceptable for the reasons stated in its description under "what to use" as a wallbreaker; it's listed under both "what to use" and "what not to use".
I also find that when I use defensive teams, Larvitar puts much more pressure on my team than, say, Tirtouga or (to a lesser extent) Drilbur, due to the power of its Guts-boosted STABs, its resistance to Stealth Rock, and how conventional WoW spam isn't enough to beat it. It also looks like it could pose as a strong threat to offensive teams that rely on Fletchling as their sole revenge-killer or have their other revenge-killers taken out in the rare case that it does manage to set up, so I don't think it should be completely written off as a threat.

I won't bother listing misplacements of Pokemon labelled "what not to use" because I don't think it really matters, but there are several Pokemon with roles that are labelled "what to use" that I do not think belong there; this could be problematic because newer users might be given the false impression that a Pokemon should be used as such. I really wouldn't consider Cottonee a stallbreaker by any stretch; outside of especially niche sets, it's almost entirely relegated to support, and I would consider it far more effective against offense than stall. Every competent stall team will have at least one hard counter to Cottonee, and very often more; examples of Pokemon that crush Cottonee that are commonly found on stall teams include, but are by no means limited to, Ferroseed, Foongus, Archen, Vullaby, Foongus, Spritzee, Croagunk, Ice Beam Porygon, Trubbish, Snubbull, Foongus, and Trubbish. Because most of these Pokemon tend to last quite long, especially on a stall team, Cottonee is essentially rendered useless against stall outside of maybe a Memento or something.
There are several Pokemon labelled as pivots which I don't think do a very good job acting as such. From what I understand, the idea of a pivot is that it can come in on key threats and force them out before switching out themselves; this makes them great for gaining or retaining momentum. Aipom, Bunnelby and Elekid don't really fit this description; even though they are decent at gaining momentum, they have trouble actually coming into play without a revenge-kill or an actual pivot voltturning them in, so they can't actually "pivot" properly. Basically, simply possessing Volt Switch or U-Turn doesn't really equate to a Pokemon being a pivot. Amaura is also listed as a pivot when it doesn't really act like one, but TCR was probably just trolling.
Chinchou is classified as both a special and mixed wall, but it doesn't really feel like a wall at all. The amount of moderately powerful special attackers it can outright wall is really limited; this is because its only form of recovery is Resttalk, but most of these notable special moves, such as Abra's Psychic, are 3HKOs, meaning Chinchou cannot wall them indefinitely on its own. Chinchou is pretty much the picture-perfect definition of a pivot, along with Mienfoo, but I don't think it's a wall any more than Mienfoo is.

I haven't bothered to look through each set and point out things that could be done better, but while skimming through them, I noticed that Carvanha is not holding an item.

Also, reserving Slugma

 

[Aerow]

Yeah, I just put the sets where people say they should belong in because it already takes hella lot of time just adding the sets. I plan to check for errors when we have done all the mons we need, and any help is appreciated of course, so just VM/PM me with errors :) (just so we don't flood the thread). Cubone being in "What not to use" too idk why, but I fixed that and all the other errors (aside from Elekid, which from what I have seen is widely regarded as a decent pivot).

Also, before reserving Pokemon such as Slugma (everyone knows I love Slugma, but it isn't viable enough to be in "What to use" in a thread that is for mostly new people), please do the remaining Pokemon for "What to use" instead, since it would be great if we could finish all of them before doing more badmons.

List of remaining Pokemon:

Defensive Vullaby
Wynaut
Clamperl
Slowpoke
Gothita

Also, Corporal Levi (Slowpoke) and Tahu (Gothita and Cranidos), please finish your sets :)

 

[The Avalanches]

Taking Magby Stunky and Poliwag.

[what to use]

Magby @ Berry Juice
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 236 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Mach Punch / Cross Chop

Role: Physical Sweeper

What it does: Magby is a potent Belly Drum sweeper in the 19 Speed tier, meaning after it sets up, it is difficult to revenge kill outside of priority attacks, particularly as it is able to use Mach Punch. Magby's Fire Punch is preferred over Flare Blitz, as it will enable it to beat more foes, and shreds through even bulky opponents such as Foongus and Cottonee with ease, while Thunder Punch beats Water-types such as Tirtouga and Slowpoke. The final move is mostly filler, but Cross Chop allows Magby to get around Chinchou which would normally counter it, while Mach Punch ensures it beats Bunnelby. However, Dual Chop can also be used in order to beat Abra. Magby is frail and has few opportunities to set up, so Memento support from a teammate such as Cottonee and Diglett will give it a better chance of setting up.

Good Teammates:
Despite Magby's frailness, a Memento user such as Cottonee or Diglett will almost guarantee set up from Magby. Diglett can also take on Chinchou and Tirtouga, Pokemon that can both stand up to a +6 attack from Magby, while it can also set up Stealth Rock to whittle down opponents, making Magby's sweep easier. A Grass-type can also be used to counter bulky waters, such as Foongus or Cottonee

What counters it: Tirtouga can switch in on Magby as it sets up and hit it hard with Aqua Jet. Magby is very frail and will be unable to take a substantially hard hit, especially a Knock Off, which might put it into a range where it will be unable to execute Belly Drum. Chinchou can also comfortably take a Fire or Thunder Punch and take Magby down with a Scald. Cottonee can Encore Magby into Belly Drum, rendering it useless, Diglett outspeeds Magby, meaning it can take down all variants not using Mach Punch

[what to use]

Poliwag @ Berry Juice
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 116 HP / 196 Atk / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Waterfall
- Thief
- Return / Hypnosis

Role: Physical Sweeeper

What it does: Poliwag reaches 19 Speed and has access to Belly Drum, meaning it can become a deadly sweeper after a single turn of set up. While Poliwag is very frail, a Water-type immunity allows it room to come in and set up on opponents such as Corphish and Tirtouga, as it will outspeed these Pokemon and Berry Juice will bring it back to full health. While Poliwag has minimal coverage, Waterfall hits for STAB and hurts a lot coming off 56 Attack, Thief allows Poliwag to steal an item such as Eviolite or Berry Juice in order to bolster its defenses or heal up again, and Return allows Poliwag to hit Croagunk and Cottonee for neutral damage. Hypnosis can be used over Return in the last slot, to ensure Belly Drum can be used, however, its 60% accuracy is woeful, and it will tend to miss at bad times.

Good Teammates: As is the case with most Belly Drum sweepers, Memento support from the likes of Diglett and Cottonee is heavily appreciated, as Poliwag is frail and will likely have trouble standing up to strong attacks otherwise. Poliwag's Grass-type counters are also an issue, so a teammate such as Larvesta or Ponyta can take them out for Poliwag. Entry Hazard support allows for opponents to be weakened and Sturdy to be broken, so a Stealh Rock user, particularly Archen which can also deal with the aforementioned Grass-types, is a welcome addition.

What counters it: Even at +6, Poliwag will have trouble against Grass-types, particularly Foongus and Cottonee, as they both can take an attack and reply with a super effective Giga Drain. Ferroseed also can take hits while being able to put Poliwag down with Bullet Seed, while Lileep's high defenses and Water immunity make it a great switch-in. Elekid and Choice Scarf users outspeed Poliwag, meaning they can knock it out with a super effective attack or prevent it from setting up by Knocking Off its Berry Juice.

 

[Eren Yeagar]

[What To Use]



Darumaka @ Choice Scarf / Choice Band
Ability: Hustle
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 76 SpD / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Rock Slide / Fire Punch
- Superpower

Roles: Wallbreaker, Physical Sweeper, Late-Game Cleaner

What It Does: Darumaka is a hit or miss pokemon in LC, literally. Darumaka has the highest attack stat in the meta(not counting Cubone with thick club). With Hustle boosting its godly attack by 1/2 and makes it have a tremendous 28 attack stat(Fully invested in attack, and with a +attack nature). There is a major downside to Darumaka though, and it is accuracy. Hustle makes every move it uses have 0.8x less accuracy and that could cause you problems, but you can still abuse its attack stat. Choice Scarf makes Darumaka a very big threat since it outspeeds all non-scarf users and can deliver a hard hit with any of its moves. If you want even more power for Darumaka, you can let it hold the choice band, which skyrockets Darumaka's attack even more to 42 attack, but the downside is you don't have the speed to hit some threats with that enormous attack stat. Flare blitz is its strongest STAB, but it has recoil. Flare blitz can OHKO almost anything that doesn't resist it since it has a beastly attack stat. U-turn is for momentum and can hit for really good damage. Rock slide is for fire types who can take its flare blitzes and u-turns pretty well. Superpower is for coverage for rock types such as Tirtouga, but then you get -1 attack and defense for using superpower too.

Good Teammates: Hazard setters such as Dwebble and Drilbur are very good teammates for Darumaka since they can set up hazards to ensure some of Darumaka's OHKOs and they can do a lot of damage to soften up Darumaka's wreckage. Foongus is also a good partner for Darumaka since they both have good synergy and both can deal with all of the bigger threats in LC. Darumaka also appreciates rapid spinners or defoggers such as archen, drilbur, and vullaby since you're most likely going to switch a lot with Darumaka and you want to make a lot of switches into it without hazards hurting it since it already is taking damage from flare blitz recoil. Chinchou/Mienfoo can make good teammates with it for a nice voltturn combination and they both cover eachother pretty well.

What Counters It: Chinchou and other water types can counter Darumaka since most are bulky enough to withstand its STABs and other moves it has. Other than that, not much can really counter Darumaka that well. Flare blitz almost 2HKOs the entire metagame and if you play smart with Darumaka, not much pokes can switch in on it. The main thing that really makes Darumaka weak is priority. With lower health form flare blitz's recoil, most priority moves can KO back since Darumaka is rather frail.

Any Additional Infromation: Fire punch in rock slide's slot is also viable when you don't want to get recoil from flare blitz and you know you can just clean up the game with it.

 

[Fiend]

Reserving Staryu

Staryu @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 36 HP / 200 SpA / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Ice Beam / Hidden Power Fire
- Recover

Roles: Hazard Remover

What It Does: This set is a more defensive take on Rapid Spin Staryu. The set's primary role is to remove hazards through the use of Rapid Spin while maximising Staryu's team support. This of course means Rapid Spin is obligatory. Scald is the STAB of choice, incredibly useful for the possibility of burning the opponent. Next, Ice Beam is the generally superior option over Hidden Power Fire as Ice Beam hits all Grass Types, save Ferroseed, harder than Hidden Power Fire would. 2HKOing Ferroseed with Hidden Power Fire can be extremely useful however, as otherwise Ferroseed can switch in on Staryu and reset hazards several times. Lastly, Recover grants Staryu reliable recovery and gives Staryu longevity to spin throughout the match, something other Rapid Spinners lack.

Good Teammates: Chinchou presents quite the problem for Staryu, and thus makes Ferroseed, Foongus, a Chinchou of your own, Goldeen, and Lileep all viable teammates. Most Grass- and Fire- types pair well with Staryu, Ferroseed and Larvesta especially. Staryu is able to spin for its Fire-type teammate and provide a decent switch for anything which threatens its Grass-type teammate. This forms a very solid defensive Fire-Grass-Water core is formed, granting a nice defensive backbone to any team. Pursuit users, such as Pawniard and Stunky, are able to remove the Spin Blockers from opposing teams giving Staryu an easier time completing its role.

What Counters It: Chinchou is able to switch into anything Staryu can possibly throw at it and retaliate with Volt Switch, building momentum for its team. Ferroseed is very capable of walling Staryu and relaying hazards in the face of Staryu; STAB Bullet Seed also does a fair amount to Staryu. Both Foongus and Lileep avoids the 2HKO from Ice Beam and are able to retaliate back with Giga Drains, recovering enough HP for them to beat Staryu. Slowpoke and Shellos are able to out stall Staryu and eventually beat it. Lastly, both Croagunk and Spritzee use Staryu as set up fodder.

Additional Info: The same EV spread can be used alongside Life Orb to turn Staryu into a rather offensive hazard remover. As an offensive Pokemon, Life Orb Staryu makes a fairly nice addition to most teams. Rapid Spin support is provided as well as powerful attacks to punish some switchins. Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt make the most out of Staryus offensive capabilities and still leaves room for Rapid Spin.

 

[Aerow]

Cranidos, Gothita and Slowpoke are back up for reservation.