SM PU Sawsbusken to top! 1870 and top spot

[Leni]

Hey all,

Finally I'm having time to do the first RMT. Dropping this team here because it has been asked so much. Please forgive my mistakes while writing this, as said it's my first RMT and still learning This team got me 1870 on ladder on it's best days.

Anyway, lets get this started:

Whole idea started with a silly challenge from kLines of climbing ladder with team based on not-too-well-known-mons as a wincons. This is where I ended up scrolling mons list and came out with core of

and

. Both supports each other quite nicely. Sawsbuck having solid speed tier by itself and combusken able to be fastest pokemon on field after couple turns.

Unfortunately both are weak to flying types and oricorios are seriously everywhere. So the very next thing I came up instead of using regirock was

. Carbink provides extremely solid coverage for flying types and at the same time stealth rocks. Carbinks bulk is also enough to shut down hard breakers like Drampa, Stoutland, Absol, Oricorios, Gurdurr and etc. Carbink ended after all being a SPDEF wall for the team.


Very next thing was challenge to find solid way to chip opponent down for our own wincons and beat opponents physical threats for somehow at the same time. This is where the next defensive core is coming:

and

. Qwillfish having access to stack hazards (specially toxic spikes) and sableye covering it with its spinblock + prankster ability for reliable recover. Nothing fancy here I would say.

After all, I liked to add the most hated spinner of the tier for extra spdef coverage and

came into picture. Claydol is still definetly switchable since it won't make too good pair with carbink. Anyway I found claydol being absolutely masterpiece after all.

After a long testing and trying to make the team as solid as possible I ended up with this:

Hide & Seek (Combusken) @ Leftovers
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Substitute
- Focus Blast
- Flamethrower

Combusken might be the MVP of the team. Extremely fun mind games pretty much in every game with protect-sub. After all the chipping done by hazards/attacking moves, combusken might come in situations being 1v6 and clean there (if it lands those pisky focus blasts). In best case scenario opponent can't touch combusken at all when toxic spikes are down and combusken is the fastest mon on table. Sub-protect keeps it untouchable and leftovers letting u losing only 12% hp per used sub-protect combo

Starbuck (Sawsbuck-Winter) @ Metronome
Ability: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Horn Leech
- Headbutt

Sawsbuck is the team stallbreaker and breaks through almost always against stall. Thanks to metronome and serene grace the "HIGH ROLL" headbutt behind substitute is ridiculous. +2 Atk roll can be +10% higher than earlier one (low - to max roll). Sawsbuck can easily find its spot to set up against things like jellicent, lanturn, regirock, claydol and sometimes I have done it even against oricorio pom pom thanks to hurricane.

Carbink @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Rest
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast

After all the testing I ended up with spdef wall carbink and having calm mind for back up plan if the original sawsbuck/combusken fails. Most of you might be wondering what kind of person would ever do this, but trust me, carbink actually can sweep. Carbink finds easily spot to set up against defoggers like skuntank, articuno and spinners like claydol, hitmonchan without AV. Rest is just there to keep Carbink alive and force rocks on field thru the game. Didnt really expected a lot from this mon as its extremely underrated, but it actually can do something, got to admit.

Qwilfish @ Black Sludge
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Taunt
- Scald

The stacker/supporter. All qwillfish is post to do is set up stacks. Specially if opponent don't have toxic spike absorber, defogger/spinner left, it can and it will be traded for layer of tspikes. Taunt helps a ton with common defoggers which likes to switch-in and scald is for extra burn chance to cripple things like aggron, absol and any flying type down.

Sableye @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Recover

Our reliable spin blocker and def wall. Basically Sableye has only two things to do: Spin block and knock items off, specially leftovers. Otherwise sableye will be facing often opponents physical threats and shutting them down with W-O-W.

Claydol @ Leftovers or Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 124 HP / 164 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Psychic
- Earth Power
- Toxic or Ice Beam

The spinner and small offensive threat that you might not see coming. Claydols role is basically just to spin, but while it's inviting all skuntanks in to trap it, I decided to run "unviable" claydol for maximum support. Mostly item has been leftovers and toxic on fourth slot, but if there is bunch of alolan raichu's around - then I have changed it to AV + Ice Beam for extra coverage. 220 speed is to outspeed max speed jellicents for toxicing it. The team really doesnt like facing specs jelli so had to do something for it.

Here ya go: https://pokepast.es/f4b4e80f0dedafcd
Basic idea:
The team is built to support combusken and sawsbuck with hard hazard controlling. Basically our target is to force opponent take chip on every switch and control the field as much as possible. This helps combusken in the end game to sweep. If we're facing stall, our target is to find spot to drop substitute with sawsbuck, get us +2 atk and spam headbutt.


Red Flags for the team to face:
-Choise specs Jellicent
-Alolan Raichu with grass knot
-Shell Smash Omastar
-Z-Lovely Kiss Jynx

These I found the most struggling ones (mostly because they autoclaim a life or after set up insta wins) to face but still every single one is winnable

Couple of replays, tried to collect replays where the match up is okay for both and different playstyles:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-874504494 against stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-830863137 against stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-834324549 against stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-828298703 against balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-833346773 against balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-831001298 against rain
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-827392769 against hail
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-838043071 against sun
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-825332074 against offense
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-821619880 against offense
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-833793828 against offense

Thanks for everyone who read this and feel free to ask and give suggestions

Edit: Many of you might be wondering how to play against lilligant. Lilligant switches in normally against carbink or sableye and thats quite obvious play from opponent side (and well.. its a solid play so...) and you can find spot to double switch to combusken or sawsbuck.

In case lilligant gets in: if you feel sleep powder is coming - go to sawsbuck. if you feel QD is coming - go to busken and normally on the first turn I flamethrower and on second I protect cuz lilligant cant take the second flamethrower

Double edit: Lilligant is banned nowadays, happy days

 

[UberSkitty]

Snazzy team, but here are some suggestions.

->

Set

Sandslash-Alola @ Leftovers
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 HP / 208 SpD / 48 Spe
Careful Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

In order to fit everything I believed your team needed, I figured role compression would be big, and so it is. Alolan Sandslash is still a Specially Defensive Pokemon but can help against Jynx as well as other threats like Lilligant, and could still create mind games when facing Normal-types.

->

Set

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Curse
- Recover

Now that you don't need a Rapid Spinner anymore, I figured you could use a better defensive mon. Quagsire makes up for a lot of the physical mons taken away when removing Carbink, such as Gurdurr and Absol, while also supplying Toxic and its own wincon in Curse.

->

Set

Haunter @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Dazzling Gleam
- Trick

Finally, I figured your team could use some better Speed control to better the matchup against Pokemon like Alolan Raichu. While the two aren't too alike, Sableye was the last mon I found to be changeable on the team, so I knew I'd also need a spinblocker in that role. You could also probably use Scarf Oriocorio-Sensu in this slot for U-turn support, but Haunter is generally a better option. It also gets Trick, meaning you can still screw with opponent's items.

Even without these changes, this team looks pretty cool, so nice job.

 

[ShuckleDeath]

Hello tlenit1,

Fun looking team here and I am glad you have found ladder success with it. I can defiantly find ways to deal with the threats you are concerned with. I hope you will enjoy the rate.

Set Change

Starbuck (Sawsbuck-Winter) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Jump Kick
- Horn Leech
- Headbutt

Not having a scarfer really put you in a rough spot against faster teams and Sawsbuck makes a fun Choice Scarf user for sure. It is in the 95 base speed tier, the same as Primeape, I really think this is fine here as you have solid Fighting-type resists. Choice Scarf Sawsbuck gives you a way to revenge kill Omastar after a Shell Smash it also revenge kills Alolan Raichu as Double Edge is an OHKO.

Set Change

Hide & Seek (Combusken) @ Firium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Protect
- Hidden Power [Electric]

No reason to not put a Z move on anything. Combusken likes the added accuracy and Inferno Overdrive has a 94% chance OHKO Raichu-Alola from full health. With the loss of Leftovers, Hidden Power Electric is a much better fit as it can be used to help chip Jellicent which is still a pretty hard matchup after my rate. It is also possible to make this Swords Dance with Electrium Z and Thunder Punch to just hard lure in Jellicent but you would have to drop a STAB or Protect and I don't think that would be nearly as consistent. Set Here

--->

Set

Sandslash-Alola @ Leftovers
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 248 HP / 212 SpD / 48 Spe
Careful Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

Claydol didn't really help with your weakness to Jynx and the Oriocorios Alolansandslah does as well as gives you a much better way of dealing with Aurorus. Honestly, I would use this for Stealth Rock and I would say you could go Toxic over Rapid Spin as that helps a lot with Choice Specs Jellicent. Rapid Spin can still help against opposing hazard stack teams and can still come in clutch if you need Stealth Rock off the Field and Alolan Sandslash can find a for sure opportunity to spin. I wouldn't think hazard control would be mandatory on this team, but not a bad thing to fit in.

Set Change

Carbink @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 116 Def / 144 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

I really think Carbink is a cool Pokemon for your team. It cores greatly with Aloan Sandslash and Sableye and this set seems like a fun wincon that goes well with your offensive Pokemon. This spread is something I have come up with just for your team, it out speeds max speed neutral Drampa which should also creep most Guzzlord. This Spread also takes two Choice Band Stoutland Superpowers. While this set can stop Fire-types from spamming their STABS it has trouble beating Nasty Plot Simisear so be sure to pivot with this well.

Set Change

Sableye @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Night Shade
- Recover

Night Shade should really be your set here, it really helps you against Gurdurr and Skuntank. While your team does have plenty of Fighting-type checks it really does look like it can succumb to a well-played Bulk Up Gurdurr.

Team Changes

 

[2xTheTap]

Hi tlenit1 - congrats on your peak, and nice squad you have here. I also really enjoy using Sawsbuck, so it's cool to see someone else innovating with it by adding Metronome to its kit. I've seen you play with this team, and while it's slow enough that boosted Pokemon like Z Hyper Beam Lilligant, Omastar, Rain when Sawsbuck is effectively the team's water resist, etc. kind of lead to this team's demise, you've done well enough with it that I don't really see a point in changing the Pokemon here; instead I'll just optimize each slot.

The first thing that stuck out to me here as I was reading was this team's lack of a z crystal. You could make the argument that not all teams need a z crystal, but there's seldom a good reason not to run one. If you kept all members the same, Combusken could easily use Fightinium Z to give it a one-time 100% accurate Focus Blast.

-->

Fightinium Z Focus Blast would let you pressure typical Fire resists like Regirock and Guzzlord easily (Guzzlord badly pressures this team, more on this below). You could also consider a physically offensive Firium Z set with Swords Dance and Flare Blitz, along with Thunder Punch for coverage on Jellicent, as you've noted here it can be a huge issue with really just Sawsbuck switching into its dual STABs and it finding switch-in initiative against the rest of the team. Additionally, hitting Lanturn hard with a +2 Sky Uppercut lets Qwilfish / Claydol / Carbink stay healthy in the face of its dual STABs. More needs to be added to beat Jellicent with this configuration, so you could run Destiny Bond Qwilfish (or even Attack-invested (Z)Throat Chop Qwilfish) with Thunder Punch Combusken. Combusken breaking Jellicent with +2 Thunder Punch for Qwilfish would work, or in reverse, Qwilfish taking Jellicent out of the equation with Destiny Bond, or with Z-Throat Chop even, would allow for an easier sweep with Combusken.

Combusken set

Combusken @ Firium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Sky Uppercut / Low Kick
- Thunder Punch / Protect

Qwilfish set

Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Waterfall
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond

ShuckleDeath already beat me to it, but if you kept all members the same, one change I'd make for sure on Sableye is Night Shade over Knock Off. Night Shade is really awesome for chipping Skuntank as it switches in to absorb Will-O-Wisp or to take a predicted Knock Off. Removing Skuntank by wearing it down with entry hazards and Night Shade will mean that Qwilfish's Spikes won't be removed via Defog later on. I'd also use Rocky Helmet over Leftovers on Sableye; in my experience, there are a lot of times when you're forced to just Recover with your opponent doing a little over ~50%, so it lets you do something instead of just running out Recover PP. Chipping opposing Primeape down when they U-turn is also really nice and will let Combusken or Sawsbuck clean up late-game once that's gone without being RKOed.

Sableye set

Sableye @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Night Shade
- Recover

The next Pokemon that I found to be a little suspect was AV Claydol (or Leftovers) with that EV spread. I would absolutely run more Defense on this, especially considering this is your main Lycanroc switch-in. I'd also stick to Toxic with this more defensive spread, so that you can pressure spinblockers (like Jellicent) more easily. If you did decide to stick with that specially offensive Claydol however, Shadow Ball is an option over Ice Beam there that lets you pressure Ghost-Types on the switch, letting it Rapid Spin more reliably mid-game.

Claydol set

Claydol @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Stealth Rock

Offensive Claydol:

Claydol @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Rapid Spin
- Shadow Ball
- Earth Power

Short rate if you're willing to shift teamslots

There are some other changes I could go into if you're interested in updating this team for Guzzlord meta. AV or Dragonium Z Heavy Slam / Knock Off / Draco Meteor / Dark Pulse Guzzlord kind of takes this team for a ride, as it pressures Claydol, switches into Sableye with ease, 2HKOes Carbink on the switch with its uninvested Heavy Slam, takes an unboosted Focus Blast from Combusken, and totally walls Scald Qwilfish.
There also isn't much that this team does against a +1 Lilligant, +2 Omastar, +2 GK Alolan Raichu, so something you could do to ameliorate these problems would be to go with Choice Scarf Primeape over Combusken. Adding it would also bolster your entry hazard setting core by adding Primeape's Defiant to deter Defogs.

Primeape set

Primeape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Gunk Shot
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat

If you want to go through other options with me, feel free to message me on Discord. Nice team!

 

[Leni]

Thanks for giving time and a deeper look to the team UberSkitty , ShuckleDeath and 2xTheTap. I'll go each of you through and try out the suggestions as they are named. Anyhow this comment coming back is now fully based on experience of "original six".

Uberskitty:

I would perhaps everytime replace a-slash over claydol. Carbink pairs very well with a-slash thanks to their double typings. Losing carbink opens the door for drampa, which will claim otherwise a life everytime it enters. Ladder kinda loves that old fashioned specs user

I personally perhaps like more idea of scarf sensu instead of haunter because how frail it is. I would go sensu with u-turn, hurricane, hp-fight/hp-grass and roost. Roost might sound a bit weird on scarfer but lets it live a bit longer since the team appreciates a LOT spin blocking. Other thoughts I went through building was dropping Spiritomb with its priorities + rest-talk for 'recover' and access to block spinners. Alolan Sandslash is enjoying the hype right now and oricorio cant block it too well either.

ShuckleDeath:

The sawsbuck set you put down was actually the very first thing I tried out. It is very fun looking and solid set. The third set I used to test was SD-Headbutt-Horn Leech and Z-jumpkick (for steel types like aggron and a-slash + to avoid that 5%). After all I ended up to use metronome, because of its surprise moment and access to break stalls so easily. Metronome is extremely unpredictable and messes opponents calcs totally. And then I hardly trusted that I can find the right timing to set up combusken for speed boosts to fight against opponents scarf mons. I would say that change is easy to make and start with if using the team first time.

Combusken set is heavily arguable. Combusken imo desperately needs the substitute+leftovers for chipping war when tspikes are down. Hidden power electric isn't doing too much for the other combusken counters either. It gives a chance to do small chip for Jelli, but its still without fear coming in.

Claydol to a-slash, agree. In case A-slash provides the SR, i would actually go for power gem on carbink to make extra damage against things like dodrio, scyther, oricorios.

With sableye I had three to four different sets I were testing. Ended up with knock off to get rid off leftovers, AV from eelektross, eviolite from clef. After giving a new try with another team, I'm actually starting to lean on foul play. Night shade is pretty much free set up for dodrio, which is quite scary for the team, but outplayable easily. Access to OHKO offensive threats like lycanroc, a-slash, dodrio, scyther comes quite handy EVEN when running w-o-w. Night shade is still definetly a good pick to chip gurdurr, skuntank, mawiles, silvally-fairy down when switching in/staying. Never really had major problems with gurdurr.

2xTheTap:

Team without z-move is arguable of course when z-move is literally the best thing in the game and can not be knocked out. In case I must to fit z-move, I would go for z-qwillfish with Throat chop. I would invest 96 to attack, 252speed and rest on HP. Providing 70% chance to OHKO from full hp against jellicent and after layer of rocks or spikes its guaranteed OHKO.

Physical combusken was part of the testing but it ends up killing itself with flare blitz recoil too often (or then i just dont know how to use it).

Claydols ice beam is pretty much for mudsdale, pom pom, lilligant and nowadays also for guzzlord to chip them down. I ended up with conclusion that shadow ball wont do too big difference against common spins blockers like jelli, froslass, sableye, spiritomb, golurk and sometimes haunter. I will give a shot for the colbur berry claydol for sure, but i'll keep toxic to snipe lilligant, oricorio, lanturn, spinblockers when switching in.

For the sableye I gave the answer on ShuckleDeath section. Rocky helmet vs. Leftovers is pretty much a coin flip for me what to use. Both works very well


Thanks again for your time for this and happily keeping the chat going. This will also nicely provide some quality content for new players to learn how small changes can make team look totally different and cover weaknesses.