SV OU Help me stop my tilt! 1800 to 1300 boots spam

[BobbyHill]

Hi RMT,

This current meta has not been kind to me. With the amount of threat saturation. I have really struggled as a balance player to find a team that can properly handle everything in the tier. This has all led to me dropping all the way down from 1800 to 1300 over the last few months, where I’m currently stuck.

I believe the following team is good on paper yet I consistently lose to screens HO, Gambit (Tera blast fairy is all over low ladder), and Ogerpon.

The team:

I want to work with a boots same team, I find Tusk really hard to fit in with the amount of dangerous ice and fairy types right now. I also like the free spot it creates without the need for a spinner.

Garganacl @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 56 Def / 204 SpD
Careful Nature
- Salt Cure
- Earthquake
- Curse
- Recover

I started with Gargancle as a ghost resist, status absorber, and general sweeper. I went with the curse set to threaten Glowking and covert cloak Gholdengo more readily. SpD Tera water forms a good core with Clefable that allows the team to take on (unbelievable broken) Kyurem.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Protect
- Knock Off

SD Gliscor is all over the ladder right now as a way to threaten balance teams, and it’s great. I went with knock over facade as it makes the stall match up a lot easier once hazards are up. Gliscor serves as a general wall and can typically trade with Kingambit with Zamazenta is too worn down.

Zamazenta @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Dauntless Shield
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Heavy Slam
- Roar

Zamazenta is the teams Darkrai answer, which is a common threat to balance, speed control, breaker, and emergency phaser. I copied the EV spread from a Finchinator team with a similar structure. Zamazenta also of course answers gambit, which this team otherwise struggles with.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Moonlight

Clefable is SpD with leftovers to handle Kyurem. It’s also the teams primary knocker and sets rocks. Typical Clefable stuff. I actually find the defensive set more useful pass off sticky barb to pokemon like Roarinf Moon, but Kyurem is so dangerous it needs to be specially defensive.

Sinistcha @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Heatproof
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Matcha Gotcha
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind
- Strength Sap

Sinistcha was added over Gholdengo as an Ogerpon switch in, stronger spin blocker, and occasional sweeper. its amazing at checking a wild variety of physical sweepers in the tier, but I do find it can get chipped down super easily, especially with Ogerpon running knock off. I have also considered foul play over calm mind to more immediately threaten SD pokemon

Samurott-Hisui @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sharpness
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ceaseless Edge
- Razor Shell
- Sucker Punch
- Encore

Samurott was originally Ogerpon grass, but once Sintcha was added I felt having two grass types was redundant. It of course is the teams spike setter, and emergency priority. I went with Adamant for more immediate power and to eke out extra KOs I wouldn’t otherwise get. Encore of great for pokemon like skarmory and stopping opposing SD Gliscor.


I feel the team is good but I consistently struggle with the same pokemon and don’t know how to tweak the team to fix it.
Hatterene, Kingambit, Raging Bolt, and Volcarona all have ways of power through the team even if I have basic checks for them. My instinct is to replace Gargancle but I’m not sure with what.

Any help would be greatly appreciated !

 

[leng loi]

Hi! I think you have the right instinct with some of these Pokemon pairings but the team has a bit of an identity crisis. It looks like the structure of a balance team but doesn't have some of the hallmark balance mons such as Slowking-G that give you resiliency against the multitude of threats in the tier. Something I stress when I teach teambuilding, especially with more defensive teams, is redundancy. This means that you should be able to rely on more than one member of your team to check most things. Unfortunately, pokemon like Sinistcha and Samurott, while great pokemon in my opinion, are not great at providing redundancy (Sinistcha is threatened super effectively by a number of physical threats which it is meant to wall and Samurott is a slow offensive pokemon that is consequently less immediately threatening, instead fitting on teams that can more reliably position it well).

I would recommend turning this into more of a bulky offense team than a balance team. You mention that you want to drop Garganacl, which I think is a good instinct. We can instead run more bulky pivots to assist Samurott and your CM sweepers with breaking.

Here's the edit I came up with: (click sprites for paste)


Minor Edits First:

• Samurott has been made slower and bulkier, only outspeeding Modest Raging Bolt to take advantage of Encore.
• Samurott has been given Knock Off > Sucker Punch to assist in breaking physical walls.
• Samurott has been made Tera Fire to check Dragapult Will-o-Wisp since you no longer have Garganacl.
• Clefable has been made Calm Mind and slightly more physically bulky since Landorus now carries Stealth Rock.
• Clefable has been made Sticky Barb and Tera Steel to check Roaring Moon.
• Zamazenta has been made Iron Press with Rest to be more threatening to offense teams and take advantage of hazards breaking unaware walls.

Major Edits:

• Landorus takes the place of Gliscor since physical breakers were already strong on this team and pivots were needed for Samurott.
• Moltres takes the place of Garganacl to fulfill a similar pivot role while checking Volcarona and abusing hazards.

The team has flaws still. It is quite slow for a bulky offense and lacks a breaker with immediate power outside of Samurott. Try testing Latios over Sinistcha with this set:


Latios @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 24 HP / 16 Def / 216 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic Noise
- Recover
- Calm Mind

I hope you enjoy these changes. Let me know how they go.

 

[BobbyHill]

Hi! I think you have the right instinct with some of these Pokemon pairings but the team has a bit of an identity crisis. It looks like the structure of a balance team but doesn't have some of the hallmark balance mons such as Slowking-G that give you resiliency against the multitude of threats in the tier. Something I stress when I teach teambuilding, especially with more defensive teams, is redundancy. This means that you should be able to rely on more than one member of your team to check most things. Unfortunately, pokemon like Sinistcha and Samurott, while great pokemon in my opinion, are not great at providing redundancy (Sinistcha is threatened super effectively by a number of physical threats which it is meant to wall and Samurott is a slow offensive pokemon that is consequently less immediately threatening, instead fitting on teams that can more reliably position it well).

I would recommend turning this into more of a bulky offense team than a balance team. You mention that you want to drop Garganacl, which I think is a good instinct. We can instead run more bulky pivots to assist Samurott and your CM sweepers with breaking.

Here's the edit I came up with: (click sprites for paste)


Minor Edits First:

• Samurott has been made slower and bulkier, only outspeeding Modest Raging Bolt to take advantage of Encore.
• Samurott has been given Knock Off > Sucker Punch to assist in breaking physical walls.
• Samurott has been made Tera Fire to check Dragapult Will-o-Wisp since you no longer have Garganacl.
• Clefable has been made Calm Mind and slightly more physically bulky since Landorus now carries Stealth Rock.
• Clefable has been made Sticky Barb and Tera Steel to check Roaring Moon.
• Zamazenta has been made Iron Press with Rest to be more threatening to offense teams and take advantage of hazards breaking unaware walls.

Major Edits:

• Landorus takes the place of Gliscor since physical breakers were already strong on this team and pivots were needed for Samurott.
• Moltres takes the place of Garganacl to fulfill a similar pivot role while checking Volcarona and abusing hazards.

The team has flaws still. It is quite slow for a bulky offense and lacks a breaker with immediate power outside of Samurott. Try testing Latios over Sinistcha with this set:


Latios @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 24 HP / 16 Def / 216 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic Noise
- Recover
- Calm Mind

I hope you enjoy these changes. Let me know how they go.

Thank you I really appreciate it! I agree Sinistcha and H-Rott, while good, end up being stressful to use on a defensive team. Youre suggestions seem great. I’ll give these a shot and let you know!