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Reuniclus @ Leftovers / Psychium Z
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball / Focus Blast
- Recover
Weavile can trap Ghost- and Psychic-types for Reuniclus, just what Reuniclus tends to struggle against. Weavile taking care of Ghost- and Psychic-types also lets Reuniclus run other coverage moves, like Energy Ball and Focus Blast, for instance.
Medicham-Mega @ Medichamite
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Fake Out
- Ice Punch
Weavile can Pursuit trap Psychic-types like Reuniclus, Mew, and Mega Lati@s for Medicham. The twosome can also pressure shared checks like Clefable. The two also form a dual priority core.
Weavile + M-Venu is a decent core I've stumbled on during teambuilding:
First off Weavile hit both weaknesses of M-Venu for super effective damage and can pursuit annoying psychic types. Therefore Weavile checks most mons that are threatening to M-Venu, such as choice-locked Lele, MLatios, Torn-T, FlyZ Lando-T, Reuniclus, M-Medi (after some chip) etc.
The other way around Venu checks mons that are threatening to Weavile such as (Scarf)Kart, Ash-Ninja, Koko etc.
Furthermore knocking Heatrans Leftiez and wearing it down with Leech seed helps to pressure Heatran, which, if played correctly can be threatening.
Victini @ Normalium Z
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Celebrate
- Searing Shot
- Stored Power
- Focus Blast
Even if underated Victini still a strong wincon in the ou metagame. However he need some support to sweep. Latios/Latias and mon like chansey are huge stop to Victini sweep. But Weavile threaten them and can pursuit trap them opening the way to sweep for our little dude.
Ground types like Chomp,zygarde or lando can be a huge nuisance. And there again Weavile is a huge help because he can ko them with icible crash, threaten them with ice shard or even pursuit trap them to weaken them so they are killed in one hit by victini latter.
Heatran @ Leftovers / Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Toxic / Stealth Rock
Weavile is a very good partner for Fire-types, and Heatran is no exception. Some of the best switch-ins to Heatran in the current metagame are Pokemon like Mega Latios, Mega Latias, Zygarde, Gliscor, and Gastrodon. Looking at this list of Pokemon, Weavile is able to threaten them all out with its CB attacks. The Mega Eon twins are very important in particular, as Weavile can Pursuit trap them to prevent an EQ from Mega Latios and a possible SubCM set from Mega Latias. In return, Heatran easily pressures bulky Steel-types that love switching into Weavile, such as Magearna and Mega Scizor. Fire + Dark + Ice hits everything S - B rank at least neutrally with the exception of Greninja (easily 2HKOed), Keldeo (uncommon), Mega Gyarados (uncommon), and Tapu Fini (uncommon). It's therefore easy to see why these two are valuable partners for each other.
A few WCoP replays showing Weavile and Heatran paired together: 123
You can use whatever set really but Keldeo is mostly mediocre outside of Specs and maybe Waterium. Anyway - Keldeo is a pretty solid breaker right now, however it's stopped dead in it's tracks by the Latis and Toxapex. Weavile is a tremendous help as it Pursuit traps the Latis and Knocks the Pex, meaning you can start whittling it down with burn + hazard damage when it comes in. Keldeo supports Weavile by coming in on Scizor and Heatran and generally provides solid coverage for the majority of the tier alongside it.
This pokemon is rightfully seeing a resurgence in usage, deceptively walling or 1v1'ing a plethora of spammed threats thanks to trace + recover.
Weavile helps Zam by breaking down pokemon that Zam hates dealing with, notably by:
removing lefties/av from the likes of Celesteela and Magearna,
trapping fat mons like Reuniclus,
heavily damaging checks like SpDef Bulu and Gliscor.
In exchange, Recover Zam helps Weavile by coming in freely vs stuff that Weavile hates or struggles to 1v1 such as Heatran, Toxapex, Fini, and non-twave Clef. Zam can also revenge kill the offensive answers to Weavile such as Keldeo and Koko.
They also pressure mutual checks such as Ttar, Magearna, Celesteela, and Ferrothorn, which means that you can just overwhelm the opponents quickly throughout a game. Speaking of speed, the core is also FAST, and eases the rest of your building in terms of speed control. Pair with a standard 4-mon bulky core for optimal results.
Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Spikes
Pelipper pressures Grass-types if running Hurricane (most should) and can get Ash Greninja safely in with U-turn. Ash Greninja is already super strong, but when its Hydro Pumps and Water Shurikens are boosted by Rain, it's arguably the hardest Pokemon to switch into, having very few efficient checks.
Pelipper sets up the rain, and Torn is able to abuse it by spamming Hurricane. Because Pelipper can run Defog, it frees up a slot on Torn, allowing it to run U-turn alongside Taunt or Superpower. Rain teams have a pretty good match-up against Heatran (duh), which gives Torn some breathing room, while it can switch-in to Grass-types which have a good match-up against rain teams.
Swampert @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Stealth Rock / Superpower / Stone Edge
Mega Swampert can easily switch into the Electric-types that threaten Pelliper. In return, Pelliper can defeat Grass-types and provides rain to activate Swampert’s ability.
The last slot has a few other ways to support Pelliper. Stone Edge allows Swampert to lure Mantine, one of Specs Pelliper’s few switchins. Superpower can allow Swampert to defeat Ferrothorn, allowing Pelliper to Defog freely.
Kind of a no-brainer. With Drizzle support from Pelipper, Kingdra is very fast and its Water-type moves do a shitload of damage. Its main niche over Ash Gren is outspeeding things like Scarf Kartana, +1 Volcarona, Scarf Lele, and Tapu Koko. HP Grass is for Gastrodon, while Ice Beam is for shit like AV Bulu, take your pick.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes / Stealth Rock ( If not run on Mega Swampert )
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
Ferrothorn pairs with Pelipper well due to the rain it sets giving Ferrothorn support to take weaker Fire type attacks that it would normally have trouble taking such as Celesteela's Flamethrower. Ferrothorn is a very good option on Rain teams with Pelipper supports due to its ability to stack hazards and gradually wear the opposing team down for rain abusers such as Mega Swampert, Kingdra, Ash Greninja and other offensive options commonly seen on rain such as Tapu Koko and Hawlucha to sweep.
Mega scizor
Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Atk / 128 Def / 16 SpD / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
One will say that with mega pert no other mega could fit here, I can't disagree even tho you can play some scizor rain allowing scizor to set up without caring of fire moves, on the other hand, scizor pivoting abilty greatly benefit pelipper which allows you to easily impose your rain for some rain abuser like gren or dra or even qwilfish (even though it forces you to run some ground in addition)
Thank you for your patience everybody. I cannot believe my appalling activity on this thread, so i sincerely apologise for the delay. Before I introduce this week's "case study", I would like to announce some changes that I will make to this project. The first and the most significant change will be a shift from a cycle based system to a week based system. This is due to a massive time constraint, so I apologise for this. In addition to that, I'll be leaving some comments at the end of the week (as originally intended). Not much to explain otherwise, so without futher ado, here is this week's "case study":
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball / Knock Off
Ferrothorn can stack Spikes for Gliscor, which are heavily appreciated to wear down the opponent, this is especially notable because Gliscor itself, even at +2, isn't super strong. It also switches into Water-types, and can pressure Ice-types. In return, Gliscor switches into Heatran, which is often used to force out Ferrothorn.
M-Mawile creates a wallbreaking core with Gliscor, and the duo will be able to practically break down most, if not all, Balance and Stall teams with the right support, since Mawile is able to easily crush walls with its raw power, while Gliscor is able to either SD up and start sweeping through fat teams, or just annoy them by existing and never dying. Gliscor is also able to take on Heatran and Landorus reliably, shielding Mawile from their super-effective attacks.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind
- Stealth Rock
Calm Mind Clefable and SD Gliscor form a stallbreaking core that pretty much wins against stall without fail. This is due to gliscors stallbreakingb abilities and Clefables ability to gaurentee Stealth Rock in Thisbe matchup. Gliscor can also check annoying Pokémon for Clefable such as Heatran, Toxapex, and Amoongus. Clefable in return can check Mega Latios, Mega Medicham, and Tangrowth.
Tornadus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Knock Off
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Defog
tornadus-therian is a good partner for gliscor because he can deal with bulky grass types like tangrowth and bulu easily, and pivot into heatran, clefable and magearna.
Mega Scizor is an amazing Gliscor partner as it helps beat many Gliscor checks like HP Ice Tangrowth, Weavile and Ice Beam Clefable. Gliscor can switch into many of the best Scizor checks like Heatran and Toxapex. Curse and SD Knock Off are both fine, but i prefer curse here because Curse Scizor + Ice Fang Gliscor is often enough to beat Zygarde and it depends on the archetype used. Balance is more common with Gliscor, but in a more offensive team, Swords Dance should be Scizor's last.
Thank you everyone for bearing with me and thank you everyone for your excellent submissions! As promised, here's my verdict on everything:
curiosity's pick of the week:
This week's pick of the week is ferrothorn! I honestly feel if ferrothorn is one of the best partners avaliable for Gliscor. Spike stacking is just incredible for Gliscor, especially considering how many switches gliscor forces, especially when facing stall. The defensive utility that they possess for each other is also pretty nice. Unlike user Jordy , this has got to be my favourite submission this week.
I also think that this is a fantastic option, especially considering how both balance and stall alike has around 0 defensive counterplay to this core whatsoever. Their defensive typing is also quite nice synergistically, especially when playing versus 'mons such as tang, as you're freely able to pivot around giga and hp ice / knock pretty freely. My one complaint is that you should probably need to fit iron head in there somewhere considering how annoying mega venu is to this core, but otherwise I really enjoy it! Fantastic work as always Felixx !
Again, this is something that I really love using! I really love the ability to basically just win versus stall, especially considering that a. you basically can just indefinitely switch with hazards up because of clef's magic guard and gliscor's poison heal healing more than rocks can do, as well as clef being able to pressure 'mons such as quag, which gliscor can't beat. That being said, both are still incredibly pressured by pyukumuku and celesteela alike, as well as flat out losing to most variants of medicham and latios, especially if switching in, as well as the fact that both mons generally have a lacklustre matchup versus offense, so keep that in mind when using this core.
Another really cool option! Much like the option above, I really love their ability to immensely pressure balance together. I think Heat Wave is honestly a necessity when pairing it with Gliscor, as weakening celesteela is absolutely essential for gliscor's success. I also really love the fact that torn pressures offence for glisc, and basically checks everything on offence that glisc can't check and vise versa. Really cool submission!
I also love scizor as a partner. A soft check to latios and zam is really nice to have, especially considering how prevalent the two are. Not much to say, because vso is consistently amazing.
Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed - David Bowie
This week's "case study" is Toxapex. Toxapex has been a consistently amazing pivot and wall ever since its release in sun and moon. I've chosen the Payapa berry set due to the metagame heavily favouring it - the increased prominence of both mega alakazam and latios essentially demands this set on teams without checks such as Celesteela and Tapu Bulu. This set also has the advantage of checking 'mons such as scizor, hawlucha and weavile much more consistently.
Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 148 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Curse
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off / U-turn
- Roost
(only run 8 Speed evs with Knock Off)
Mega Scizor and Toxapex are amazing partners benefit from each other very well. Their type synergy is simply outstanding, with Mega Scizor resisting Psychic-type attacks and being capable of taking on Ground- and Grass-types for Toxapex. In return, Toxapex is capable of switching into Fire-, Water-, and Steel-types with ease, which Mega Scizor usually has trouble breaking through. It can also Toxic Zapdos, or even setup Toxic Spikes to punish switches that Mega Scizor forces. The only thing I would change for this core is giving Toxapex a Shed Shell to pivot into Heatran.
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Protect
Celesteela and Toxapex form the famous Celepex core, capable of checking a large portion of the metagame. It’s also one of the stupidest things to switch in to because of Leech Seed, Scald, Toxic, and STAB 120 Base Power Heavy Slam. This core only really fears Heatran and Electric-types.
