Hello past-gen enjoyers, this is my first smogon post outside of tournament threads (so please excuse any clunk that I may have). Anyways the premise of this team is very classic, lead salamence with skarm spikes supporting in order to chip down special walls that come in along with sandstorm.
Teambuilding Process:
As a BKC enjoyer who has always listened to his talk about mixed offense with spikes, I wanted to try and replicate the style which he talked about. This team focuses on an early switch to skarm in order to lay down spikes quickly, before trying to pressure the opponent team with Wisp Gengar, Pursuit Ttar, Toxics from both Blissey and Skarm. The endgame generally revolves around salamence and gengar cleaning up with weakened team, with remaining 4 dedicated to chipping/defensive answers.
Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Brick Break
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Fire Blast
Salamence is generally not a pokemon that I build with, so centering this team around his was an interesting experience. Mixed Salamence Lead is commonly difficult to answer as it immediatly intimdates the opponent, allowing for an easy pivot out in case of nonfavorable matchups. The lack of information turn 1 also leaves the opponent guessing which variant it is, making common leads like Zapdos and Metagross hesitate in fear of a CB rock slide and EQ respectively. Skarm leads must also be wary of Fire Blast, and Ttar Rock slides sting much less with an attack drop. Rash BB with spikes down also almost always 2HKOs Modest Blissey, provided you land the prediction.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Ice Beam
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
The standard special wall with the standard moves, I've considered running wish over toxic but I feel like it would just strain the suicune match up too much + it applies no pressure towards opposing Blisseys and Celebis, which can really kill momentum. It also prevents it from being a free switch to Physical TTar, poisons Aero in a pinch, and just generally makes Blissey more proactive on an more offensively oriented team. Went with Bold to ease the matchup against DD and Mixed Salamence, Swampert, and Mixed Ttar and I figured I could get away with it on a Spikes team against Dugtrios.
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Roar
The GOAT himself, you would need a good reason not to run this guy, and I have plenty of reasons to run him. His sandstorm is essential for Salamence and Gengar to have more meaningful chip against mons like Zapdos, Blissey, Suicune, Snorlax, etc. It also provides Jirachi with sandstorm so that opposing Blisseys will never heal against it setting up, while it constantly heals passively. As for the set itself, I went with PursuitTar as Gengar is a huge nuisance to the Skarm and Bliss core Wisps and Taunts, especially spikes down. Making this Tyranitar physical would only exacerbate the pressure, so I figured that I would just remove it outright. This would also ease Salamence's sweep immensely as Rash Mence doesn't commonly outrun it. Obligatory FB to prevent it from being Skarm fodder, and the last slot is something I am still experimenting with. Tried HP grass before to decent sucessful, and am now trying out roar in order to pile up spikes damage and leftovers recovery.
Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Roar
- Protect
- Toxic
Tyranitar may be the king of ADV, but skarm will always be the true GOAT for me. Lays down spikes, pecks, toxics, thiefs, phazes, whatever you want. Never leave the ADV teambuilder without a skarm in your backpocket. I just went with the standard protect-toxic variant as the team would be pretty swampert + aero weak otherwise. One interesting change that I made which I wasn't sure was experiemented/used before was a bold nature. I found with a careful nature I would often get completely mauled by CB Metagross leads, especially if they get an attack boost. This would make getting a spike down early hard as you would have to roar immediatly if an attack boost did occur, and even without it you still take a huge chunk.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 80 SpA / 136 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
This sub Rachi set has really grown on me this past couple weeks, being an rock resist that also setups on Bliss and then blows open huge holes in their team. Obviously this comes with the drawback of a rock resist without much recovery, but I find that aggressive spikes stacking with Skarm doubles can alleviate the issue a bit. Psychic is obligatory for actually beating Blissey consistantly while also hitting almost everything hard in tandem with Tbolt. Tbolt over Fpunch due to a lack of Dugtrio for Tyranitar, and for hitting Suicune, Starmie, Skarm (Triple S) all harder. Use this as your breaker, try to bring it in aggressively on Blissey when you know they are about to Recover or Toxic.
Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 8 SpA / 112 SpD / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Punch
Such a cool mon, when you play this sloppily, it can often perform subpar; however when played precise and aggressive this thing will make your opponent cry for a pursuit Ttar. On this team especially, Gengar fills a MASSIVE role throughout the entire game. Comes in early to spam wisps on opposing skarm, spinblocks on a crucial turn in order to keep up hazards pressure, tbolt, ice punch and wisp are extremely deadly once spikes go up and chip starts adding up. Taunt is an amazing move which can basically finish off Blisseys once they come in, take spikes, get burned and suffer sandstorm. It also helps in beating curselaxes and rest Suicunes, although you should do so carefully. Because of how much it does, you want to make sure it takes as little unnecessary chip as possible during the early-mid game. Only spinblock when you are confident and it is truly essential. Only taunt when the blissey is at 40 and dying from passive damage. Your late game gengar cleanup will often demand high hp so you can take an additional crucial hit (although each game state will obviously call for a different play). As a result, you also want to make sure that you play around Pursuit TTar as much as possible (this will require a lot of meta knowledge but forre is generally a dead giveaway)
Finishing thoughts-
This team is quite fragile to physical setup mons, so you will have to play carefully around them. DD Tyranitar basically shreds this team, skarm phase and mence intimidate is not nearly enough to stop this thing, and often the best you can do is try to lay 3 spikes and chip it down.
Obviously this team is not perfect, and I am probably not operating it as well as I could but I tried to build it so that you will be able to at least pilot a winnable path against any matchup through aggressive plays. I have also not worked on this team for too long, so I will likely tweak and experiment with some other stuff.
Phew my hands are tired now, hope this wasn't too bad for a first post, just gained even more respect to any RMT posters for always writing such well made explainations. Thanks if you read all my explainations and hope you enjoy the team if you try it. Even bigger thanks if you provide feedback, would really appreciate it.
Pokepaste here- https://pokepast.es/9598331f1775c568
Teambuilding Process:
As a BKC enjoyer who has always listened to his talk about mixed offense with spikes, I wanted to try and replicate the style which he talked about. This team focuses on an early switch to skarm in order to lay down spikes quickly, before trying to pressure the opponent team with Wisp Gengar, Pursuit Ttar, Toxics from both Blissey and Skarm. The endgame generally revolves around salamence and gengar cleaning up with weakened team, with remaining 4 dedicated to chipping/defensive answers.
Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Brick Break
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Fire Blast
Salamence is generally not a pokemon that I build with, so centering this team around his was an interesting experience. Mixed Salamence Lead is commonly difficult to answer as it immediatly intimdates the opponent, allowing for an easy pivot out in case of nonfavorable matchups. The lack of information turn 1 also leaves the opponent guessing which variant it is, making common leads like Zapdos and Metagross hesitate in fear of a CB rock slide and EQ respectively. Skarm leads must also be wary of Fire Blast, and Ttar Rock slides sting much less with an attack drop. Rash BB with spikes down also almost always 2HKOs Modest Blissey, provided you land the prediction.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Ice Beam
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
The standard special wall with the standard moves, I've considered running wish over toxic but I feel like it would just strain the suicune match up too much + it applies no pressure towards opposing Blisseys and Celebis, which can really kill momentum. It also prevents it from being a free switch to Physical TTar, poisons Aero in a pinch, and just generally makes Blissey more proactive on an more offensively oriented team. Went with Bold to ease the matchup against DD and Mixed Salamence, Swampert, and Mixed Ttar and I figured I could get away with it on a Spikes team against Dugtrios.
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Roar
The GOAT himself, you would need a good reason not to run this guy, and I have plenty of reasons to run him. His sandstorm is essential for Salamence and Gengar to have more meaningful chip against mons like Zapdos, Blissey, Suicune, Snorlax, etc. It also provides Jirachi with sandstorm so that opposing Blisseys will never heal against it setting up, while it constantly heals passively. As for the set itself, I went with PursuitTar as Gengar is a huge nuisance to the Skarm and Bliss core Wisps and Taunts, especially spikes down. Making this Tyranitar physical would only exacerbate the pressure, so I figured that I would just remove it outright. This would also ease Salamence's sweep immensely as Rash Mence doesn't commonly outrun it. Obligatory FB to prevent it from being Skarm fodder, and the last slot is something I am still experimenting with. Tried HP grass before to decent sucessful, and am now trying out roar in order to pile up spikes damage and leftovers recovery.
Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Roar
- Protect
- Toxic
Tyranitar may be the king of ADV, but skarm will always be the true GOAT for me. Lays down spikes, pecks, toxics, thiefs, phazes, whatever you want. Never leave the ADV teambuilder without a skarm in your backpocket. I just went with the standard protect-toxic variant as the team would be pretty swampert + aero weak otherwise. One interesting change that I made which I wasn't sure was experiemented/used before was a bold nature. I found with a careful nature I would often get completely mauled by CB Metagross leads, especially if they get an attack boost. This would make getting a spike down early hard as you would have to roar immediatly if an attack boost did occur, and even without it you still take a huge chunk.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 80 SpA / 136 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
This sub Rachi set has really grown on me this past couple weeks, being an rock resist that also setups on Bliss and then blows open huge holes in their team. Obviously this comes with the drawback of a rock resist without much recovery, but I find that aggressive spikes stacking with Skarm doubles can alleviate the issue a bit. Psychic is obligatory for actually beating Blissey consistantly while also hitting almost everything hard in tandem with Tbolt. Tbolt over Fpunch due to a lack of Dugtrio for Tyranitar, and for hitting Suicune, Starmie, Skarm (Triple S) all harder. Use this as your breaker, try to bring it in aggressively on Blissey when you know they are about to Recover or Toxic.
Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 8 SpA / 112 SpD / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Punch
Such a cool mon, when you play this sloppily, it can often perform subpar; however when played precise and aggressive this thing will make your opponent cry for a pursuit Ttar. On this team especially, Gengar fills a MASSIVE role throughout the entire game. Comes in early to spam wisps on opposing skarm, spinblocks on a crucial turn in order to keep up hazards pressure, tbolt, ice punch and wisp are extremely deadly once spikes go up and chip starts adding up. Taunt is an amazing move which can basically finish off Blisseys once they come in, take spikes, get burned and suffer sandstorm. It also helps in beating curselaxes and rest Suicunes, although you should do so carefully. Because of how much it does, you want to make sure it takes as little unnecessary chip as possible during the early-mid game. Only spinblock when you are confident and it is truly essential. Only taunt when the blissey is at 40 and dying from passive damage. Your late game gengar cleanup will often demand high hp so you can take an additional crucial hit (although each game state will obviously call for a different play). As a result, you also want to make sure that you play around Pursuit TTar as much as possible (this will require a lot of meta knowledge but forre is generally a dead giveaway)
Finishing thoughts-
This team is quite fragile to physical setup mons, so you will have to play carefully around them. DD Tyranitar basically shreds this team, skarm phase and mence intimidate is not nearly enough to stop this thing, and often the best you can do is try to lay 3 spikes and chip it down.
Obviously this team is not perfect, and I am probably not operating it as well as I could but I tried to build it so that you will be able to at least pilot a winnable path against any matchup through aggressive plays. I have also not worked on this team for too long, so I will likely tweak and experiment with some other stuff.
Phew my hands are tired now, hope this wasn't too bad for a first post, just gained even more respect to any RMT posters for always writing such well made explainations. Thanks if you read all my explainations and hope you enjoy the team if you try it. Even bigger thanks if you provide feedback, would really appreciate it.
Pokepaste here- https://pokepast.es/9598331f1775c568
