Surgo
goes to eleven
Alright, so I put this together pre-DLC. At that point it struggled to break through 1800. It's got some unusual stuff in there (Salazzle, who the hell uses that), and it was my first attempt at SV teambuilding so really no surprises that it started to struggle there because there's only so much experience can take you, at some point you need a good team. Post-DLC I've faffed around a bit and after getting some experience, now it struggles to break past 1700. Actually I don't think I've gotten past 1700 at all, I topped out at like 1680...really not good. The biggest struggle is Ogerpon, in any form. I hate Ogerpon so much, it's basically custom designed to wreck this team. The only way I can really handle it is predicting when it will Swords Dance (which I'm fairly good at doing, at least) and switching into Salazzle at that point to toxic it (I can encore but it only delays the inevitable, better to toxic and just eliminate the threat with some other sacrifice). Needless to say, that's not a winning strategy and is the #1 reason I think the team has lost so much Elo in the transition. Alright, with all that said let's get to it.
Garganacl @ Leftovers
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Salt Cure
- Recover
- Protect
- Block
Salazzle (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Corrosion
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Encore
- Toxic
- Protect
- Flamethrower
Great Tusk @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Headlong Rush
- Stealth Rock
Toxapex @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Infestation
- Sludge Bomb
- Ice Beam
Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Heat Wave
- Hurricane
- Roost
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight
- Stored Power
- Moonblast
The team is defense-oriented and is meant to either wall off threats, or check them enough to force them to come in again into hopefully a better situation. The Garganacl / Toxapex / Zapdos core works quite well for that. Zapdos static is essential for handling opposing Great Tusk and contact mons in general. It has flipped way more matchups than it should. The defensive core is generally worked around checking Kingambit, who stops Cresselia sweeps. So you've got Great Tusk, but then also Heat Wave on Zapdos and tera water on Garganacl to try to stay alive against an Iron Head and get a salt cure on. Salazzle encore has stopped Kingambit sweeps in the past as well. Assault Vest on Toxapex with maxed out SpA can do surprising damage, and completely stops Iron Valiant. Or rather, it did. Nowadays we've got lucky hypnosis hits and tera steel.
Salazzle is of course the big question mark. It's great against Cresselia and the newly available Clefable. And its the fastest thing on my team, so it checks (but not counters) that irritating Ogerpon which just destroys me otherwise. Cresselia is the wincon, but Ogerpon's existence has made it a much less useful wincon than it used to be.
Originally I struggled a bit against Gliscor, but recently I realized that block Garganacl is a perfect counter when it doesn't have U-turn, which it rarely does because 4MSS. Heck, even Gliscor doesn't carry knock off you don't even need to terastalize and can save it for later. It probably won't work against SD+Earthquake+Stone Edge, but I've yet to seen one of those.
Getting rocks up is usually pretty challenging since I have to keep Great Tusk healthy for some threats like Kingambit, several games I don't bother trying and don't control hazards at all (not the worst thing in the world since the team isn't too vulnerable to them).
Garganacl @ Leftovers
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Salt Cure
- Recover
- Protect
- Block
Salazzle (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Corrosion
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Encore
- Toxic
- Protect
- Flamethrower
Great Tusk @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Headlong Rush
- Stealth Rock
Toxapex @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Infestation
- Sludge Bomb
- Ice Beam
Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Heat Wave
- Hurricane
- Roost
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight
- Stored Power
- Moonblast
The team is defense-oriented and is meant to either wall off threats, or check them enough to force them to come in again into hopefully a better situation. The Garganacl / Toxapex / Zapdos core works quite well for that. Zapdos static is essential for handling opposing Great Tusk and contact mons in general. It has flipped way more matchups than it should. The defensive core is generally worked around checking Kingambit, who stops Cresselia sweeps. So you've got Great Tusk, but then also Heat Wave on Zapdos and tera water on Garganacl to try to stay alive against an Iron Head and get a salt cure on. Salazzle encore has stopped Kingambit sweeps in the past as well. Assault Vest on Toxapex with maxed out SpA can do surprising damage, and completely stops Iron Valiant. Or rather, it did. Nowadays we've got lucky hypnosis hits and tera steel.
Salazzle is of course the big question mark. It's great against Cresselia and the newly available Clefable. And its the fastest thing on my team, so it checks (but not counters) that irritating Ogerpon which just destroys me otherwise. Cresselia is the wincon, but Ogerpon's existence has made it a much less useful wincon than it used to be.
Originally I struggled a bit against Gliscor, but recently I realized that block Garganacl is a perfect counter when it doesn't have U-turn, which it rarely does because 4MSS. Heck, even Gliscor doesn't carry knock off you don't even need to terastalize and can save it for later. It probably won't work against SD+Earthquake+Stone Edge, but I've yet to seen one of those.
Getting rocks up is usually pretty challenging since I have to keep Great Tusk healthy for some threats like Kingambit, several games I don't bother trying and don't control hazards at all (not the worst thing in the world since the team isn't too vulnerable to them).
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