Battle Stadium Singles blog #4 — Hot Goth jank with TR Dracovish mode (S3)

Generation 8 in a nutshell: When every attack bar Aerial Ace has the accuracy of Stone Edge.

This is a team I used not only to get triple digits in season 3 of ranked play, but doing so earlier in the season than my previous two efforts, in no small part thanks to actually having the time to put in some games. A fact relatively shocking, given how little iteration was involved at any stage of its genesis. Further still, the Gothitelle option is more or less a result of the disappointment in the ranked game mode's timer still remaining too hostile, even with the recent improvement from season 2, to Butterfree, who has some truly magnificent insertion options sure to checkmate a great many line-ups — only to be checked by timer stalling.

   Moving on then, the team below is one of those ones again that really needs the team preview screen game to go well, having options against both stall and Speed control offense. The main dynamax options, Dragapult and Charizard, for example, need to trade 1-for-1 and often to do so from a lead position.

Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/a0bbf2ba0fa9c9db

Rental: Omitted so no-one ever plays this again because it should not work without a serious rework.

1) Team overview:

Please see links above for builds.

Dragapult

My personal belief is that, as of season 3, the best Dragapult sets are Choice Scarf Special Attacker (poor man's Greninja) and mixed Weakness Policy sweeper.

Defense Exhibit 1: Modest Scarf Dragapult wallbreaking a slug.

   Anyway, the set I went with on this team mostly belongs to the second category, albeit not carrying any offensive investment whatsoever. This is because this set is EV'd to Dynamax lead against things like Choice Scarf Darmanitan and Focus Sash/Weakness Policy Aegislash, as well as to underspeed the first hit in the Dragapult lead mirror, with the intention of responding with a +2 Max Airstream.

   Acrobatics and Steel Wing are mandatory on a set like this, but anyone seeking to improve on what I have here would be well-advised to drop Baton Pass, for the simple reason that as good as Max Guard can be, Dragapult can pull it off with Will-o-Wisp or even Thunder Wave. And let's be honest, most games Dragapult pops off are about sweeping and having the perfect coverage, which includes a Ghost- or Dragon-type attack in the fourth slot. Max Wyrmwind, in particular, is a good move to throw into a Dynamaxed Weakness Policy Tyranitar, with Dragon Darts also beating bulky lead Dragapults that are Will-o-Wisp / Hex / Substitute Leftovers attrition based. Nevertheless, Baton Pass on here is as a back up to at least pass +1 Spd and +1 Def to Gothitelle should the offensive plan fall through.

Charizard

This Charizard is also carrying a lead set with sweeping potential: the defensive investments let it live anything non-Rock Slide Scarf Darmanitan can dish out while still having a Speed tier high enough to outspeed lead +252 Spd Sash Stealth Rock Excadrill (seeing both Charizard and Cloyster on a team can tunnel vision players to lead rocks no matter what), who can be Eject Pack Overheated into Mimikyu, which will keep its Disguise intact on the Rock Tomb. Eject Pack is also, well, kind of sweet when it lets you insert Gothitelle into something like a Toxapex (who seems to mostly carry a useless Baneful Bunker instead of Haze thanks to the oppressive nature of the Dynamax mechanic). The downside is also of course quite severe: opposing Dynamax can eject you out in Dynamax form with a number of max moves.

   Will-o-Wisp is another tech to empower Gothitelle, but could just as easily be swapped for Dragon Pulse, which would let Charizard click something other than Max Flame when coming up against Dragapult and Hydreigon. At that point, though, going just a vanilla 4-attacks Charizard with something like Lum Berry is the play so it can, for example, straight up break through stuff like Thunder Wave Type: Null leads, which, as it stands, require Eject Packing into Mimikyu's Curse / Trick Room (if Vish mode) so as not to get too crippled on an actual win condition.

Cloyster

As standard a Cloyster set as there is, this was adopted for the team for its dueling potential outside of Stealth Rock and Dynamax, and to provide an actual answer to Rotom-H (another thing that could be somewhat remedied by adjusting Dragapult's coverage) that does not involve hitting it with Dracovish under Trick Room.

Gothitelle

Gothitelle in generation 8 seems to be doing one of two things at the moment: running a Trick set or what I'm trying to do here, namely to lock in something passive and set up on it. The EVs I ended up going for are relatively greedy: trying to outspeed Jolly Mimikyu at +1 Spd to actually take advantage of a +1Def boost. Realistically, though, trap/lock Gothitelle should be fully invested in Defense so that it can actually do its thing against stuff like Umbreon more consistently.

   Energy Ball is the move Gothitelle clicks on this team when Stored Power is immuned because Grass Knot can obviously not hit a Dynamaxed target, and because Grass coverage is good against both Quagsire (Unaware with a surprisingly decent likelihood of Stockpile to boot) and Tyranitar.

Mimikyu

Anti-Speed control Mimikyu does not have to be this heavily invested in Defense, but I've found more bulk to be preferable to a minor increase of damage output: if needed, this EV-spread can actually switch in on a +252 Gyarados Max Airstream and live the next hit so long as Gyarados is not carrying Life Orb or Sharp Beak. Additionally, Babiri Berry makes it so that, from full HP, this Mimikyu also lives +252 Mold Breaker Excadrill Max Steelspike, while still having a decent shot at living Jolly Life Orb ones (37.5% to 1HKO), too.

   Another thing that needs to be mentioned is the extent that this set also benefits from being less telegraphed than some of the more popular Trick Room set ups based on Rhyperior, for example, so that what counterplay there might be, in the form of, say, Taunt Gyarados, might not be employed in time. An absolute unit.

Dracovish

Dracovish hits a minimum Spd stat of 72, which is slower than anything but the most passive of things such as Toxapex, Ferrothorn, Snorlax, Corsola, and Hippowdon. For this reason, Dracovish is best kept in the back in games it is not benched as your lead tries to trade 1-for-1, with Mimikyu crippling and setting Trick Room on their second pokemon, leaving Choice Band Fishious Rend three turns to close things out against around 1.5 pokemon worth of opposition. The rest of the moveset is geared towards the exceptionally rare case of Dynamax Dracovish.

   The Mimikyu Trick Room modular thing can also be run as a lead option to try to maul the opponent for your Dynamax option/Cloyster to clean up, but things like Max Guard and lack of Sash breaking options make wasting Trick Room turns a real problem in otherwise good Dracovish match ups.

2) Usage notes:

For some general gameplay-related observations I have regarding the team, Dracovish is best left benched pretty much every time Mimikyu is on the opposing team unless looking down the barrel of the gun into the most telegraphed double Max Airstream (e.g Togekiss + Gyarados) set ups imaginable. Lead Charizard is also something that is surprisingly consistent at trading, provided it avoids hitting things like lead Dragapult, Hydreigon, or Rotom-H. This is something useful to keep in mind if having doubts about bringing Dragapult as the Dynamax option.

   The pick preferences below are based on around 40-50 games in ranks 4000-1000, which include a climb from 10k+ after collapsing from a relatively early peak of 1630:

Triple digits took over a week of games, achieved on 08-Feb-2020:

   As for the match up overview below, having played a total of 450+ ranked games as of the time of writing, I have tried to stay on top of any major new developments when it comes to archetypes and such, but have not really seen anything too revolutionary apart, I think, from an uptick in the use of Weakness Policy Aegislash (a rediscovery would perhaps be the more accurate description given how amazing it can still be), Conkeldurr, and Trick Room mode Mimikyu as an answer to Speed control offense.

2.1 — Usual team compositions

Charizard/Dragapult-Mimikyu-Dracovish

Charizard/Dragapult-Gothitelle/Mimikyu-Cloyster

Cloyster-

2.2 — Most brought, by rate/member (descending)

1. Charizard

2. Cloyster

3. Mimikyu

4. Dracovish

5. Dragapult

6. Gothitelle

2.3 — VS Team Select Screen

Screens/Suicide lead Hyper Offense

Grimmsnarl or other Light Clay Dual Screens/Memento leads such as Steel Beam Duraludon or Curse Dragapult. Alternatively, dedicated cripple leads like Tailwind/Memento Whimsicott, Thunder Wave / Will-o-Wisp / Fling + Light Ball & Curse / Trick Room Mimikyu. Win conditions consist of Dragon Dancers, Cloyster, Max Airstream mode etc.

Cloyster/Dragapult-Mimikyu-Dracovish

Both Dragapult and Cloyster are decent leads against Whimsicott, with Mimikyu-Dracovish being ideal against hyper offense modes, although Dracovish kind of wants to be benched if the opponent is heavily Mimikyu dependant.

Trick Room (Hyper) Offense

Hatterene/Mimikyu, Rhyperior/Dracovish, Ferrothorn, Gyarados and/or Togekiss mode etc.

Charizard-Cloyster-Mimikyu

Mimikyu is good for reversing Trick Room if necessary, whereas Cloyster should be able to always trade up thanks to lack of Stealth Rock on these types of teams.

Balanced Momentum Offense

Excadrill (Stealth Rock or Weakness Policy sweeper), Mimikyu, Togekiss, Corviknight, Dragapult, Gyarados, Darmanitan, Rotom, Snorlax

Mimikyu-Dracovish-Cloyster/Dragapult

Charizard/Dragapult-Cloyster-Mimikyu

Mimikyu-Dracovish is amazing but needs to avoid opposing Mimikyu for it to act as a win condition in its own right. Indeed, in games like this, one likely wants to go TR mode from turn 1 and let a Dynamax user in the back try to do the clean up. If confident in the lead game, Charizard and Dragapult can both lead well.

Dedicated Defense (stall-mode)

Corviknight, Toxapex, Quagsire, Gastrodon, Umbreon, Corsola, Milotic, Lapras

Charizard-Gothitelle-Mimikyu/Cloyster

It goes without saying that Gothitelle is the major out against stall. However, because Lapras carries Sheer Cold and non-Assault Vest Milotic occasionally runs Haze, Charizard likely has its work cut out for it, needing to heavily bruise the former and ideally KO the latter.

Dedicated Baton Pass

Polteageist, Dubwool, dedicated leads like Memento Whimsicott, Togekiss, Clefable, Espeon

Charizard-Mimikyu-Cloyster/Dracovish

Mimikyu's Curse is a mandatory bring, likely with Cloyster in the back as much for its sweeping potential as for Ice Shard seeing as Stealth Rock is unlikely again.

3) In Conclusion:

As mentioned above, the original plan for this month was indeed to do some Butterfree games, but circumstances being what they are, that continues to be a problem on console, so here is a shell of what would have been: https://pokepast.es/1f323968dcc811ab

   Seeing as I'm nowhere near burnt out on the game yet, if I get really inspired, I might do another post later in the month depending on how the rest of my games go now that I have hit my goal for the month with this most questionable of teams. Regarding the upcoming season 4 (March), provided there are no surprises in terms of rulesets, I will probably start out with a Seismitoad team with the ultimate goal of switching into something new and interesting.

-Tox

SW-0021-9848-8999