Battle Stadium Singles blog #15 — Defensive pivot Zapdos (S13)

I consider this one to be a bit of a disappointment. Having presided over numerous fun experiments with, alas, underwhelming results, involving things like Focus Sash/Custap Berry Cramorant, and Slowking-G as Zapdos/Nihilego check this season, I was ultimately forced into the relatively standard team below in order to string together a series of wins across the final 30-40 games to secure a decent late-season placement. Oh well, better luck next month.

With the introduction and subsequent rampage of Zapdos-K, those of us who have been detractors of the Dynamax mechanic from the very beginning are proven right yet again: When the number one ranked thing in your official competitive singles format has to rely on a base 70% accuracy move (98% usage) outside its three-turn Dynamax window, something has gone wrong, both in terms of design and balance.

Is it a trash play to Roost at 50% instead of Substituting again against a Stunfisk (!) whose Dynamax you just forced and exhausted? Yes.

A paunch to rival G-Max Charizard's. Too bad Multiscale was going to get proced whether it Wyrmwinded or Hailstormed (Hail).

[+1 252 Atk Dragonite Max Hailstorm (130 BP) vs. 204 HP / 252+ Def Zapdos: 182-216 (95.2 - 113%) -- 75% chance to OHKO].

[+1 252 Atk Dragonite Max Wyrmwind (140 BP) vs. 204 HP / 252+ Def Zapdos: 147-174 (76.9 - 91%)]

Triple Axel has a 72.9% chance to connect with all three hits.

Now this — the 252 HP Will-o-Wisp + Hex set — and Choice Scarf Dragon Darts, or even the much rarer Weakness Policy Max Airstream set, are the only three ways I could ever see myself leading Dragapult against a Pheromosa team. (Pheromosa-Zapdos-Mimikyu vs. Dragapult-Arctozolt-Mimikyu).

Accidentally avoiding giving Custap Berry Glastrier the 2-for-1 by missing Meteor Beam. Lesson gleaned: when you see Glastrier without any of the usual accompanying Speed control options, it's probably a good idea to at least think about playing around Endure + Custap Berry.

Volt Switch + Psyshock.

Going to just go ahead and lead Rillaboom against this despite half the team representing an imminent 1HKO threat.  3-0 with Rillaboom-Landorus-Nihilego vs. Celesteela-Hippowdon-Cinderace after Celesteela tried to click Power Herb Meteor Beam on turn 1 Knock Off on what must have been a 113 Speed tie.

A game I *didn't* try to throw, but got got anyway — 5 hits and hail damage makes Mimikyu... a dead Mimikyu.

Rental code: 0000 0000 7L5F T5

Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/0a876a649705e79a

1) Team overview

Zapdos

After two months of a much-needed respite from it in Series 6, Cinderace came back only to be quickly dethroned as the number one guy by Zapdos. Whether this will remain the case for the duration of Series 7 is debatable (I certainly don't think so), when Zapdos flaps its wings, you can really feel the impact of that 125 Base SpAtt Max Airstream fleecing you out of your precious ladder points.

   As is customary, when something offensive is so good it obsoletes vast swathes of the competition, it becomes a focal point of the metagame. This also means that space is created for specialized defensive and lure sets, which is a large part of what still manages to keep this format interesting for me.

   In building a defensive Zapdos set, I went for two main benchmarks: first, outspeeding Cinderace's native 188 Spd stat after Max Airstream; and, second, avoiding the 2HKO from both Urshifu (Jolly, non-Choice Band). Urshifu-Rapid-Strike in particular is a problem for Pheromosa and Landorus thanks to Surging Strikes, and its tendency to opt for either Focus Sash (largely why I have opted for Rocky Helmet here) or Choice Scarf, both of which are hard to play around for the main offensive threats on this team. In any case, last season gave us multiple high-ranking ways of EVing this type of Zapdos, which should point to where the standard sets for it might reside months from now.

   Rocky Helmet combined with Substitute + Pressure allows Zapdos to attrition out a number of bulky defensive things that seek to check Nihilego (Metagross, Excadrill), as well as being able to Roost through things like Porygon2's Ice Beam PP and various purely defensive Landorus sets — whether Assault Vest or physically defensive pivot.

   Where Substitute really shines, though, is against strategies where turns need to be wasted, like against Trick Room or Screens setters (mainly Grimmsnarl), as well as versus predictable offensive Dynamax turns from natively slower pokemon (e.g Lapras, Tyranitar, Rhyperior).

Rillaboom

Being Choice Band locked into grass moves on a relatively slow attacker is asking to be abused by Cinderace and other Max Airstream threats like Zapdos, Celesteela, and Dragonite. Fortunately, some of this is alleviated by the fact that Mimikyu can revenge kill a number of these threats, and with bulky Landorus and Zapdos in tow, getting Max Airstreamed on as Tapu Rilla becomes that much more manageable in terms of cushioning.

   Rillaboom's massive upside, apart from the devastating Grassy Glide it brings to fore, is in the much sought-after wallbreaking capability against hard stall, and other defensive-type teams, whether balance or bulky offense, through Wood Hammer.

   Something Rillaboom also wants to accomplish purely by virtue of being present in the team preview screen is to make things like Tapu Fini, Dracovish, and Hippowdon — all of which are annoying for slow Landorus to deal with even at +2 Att +1 Spd — as well as ruling out Pheromosa, in the case of Hippowdon and Tapu Fini, as anything resembling a consistently viable bring.

  The specific set I went with on this team is adapted from sintarosuch, departing only in the original author's choice of the much more consistent U-turn, opting for the relatively situational Knock Off instead. The EVs let Rillaboom avoid the 2HKO from Porygon2 (not giving it a Download-boost into SpAtt) and 252 SpAtt Tapu Fini Ice Beam, letting it hard switch in twice if necessary. This also makes Rillaboom a decent alternative lead, because its native bulk is enough to avoid the 1HKO from 252 Att Pheromosa, as well as from virtually every extant Dragapult set (252 SpAtt Choice Specs Fire Blast 1HKOs almost 70% of the time; Flamethrower does not). This is most appreciated, because Choice Band users in general love to be greedy and try to get a good lead match up as even their resisted damage packs a punch (Urshifu-Single-Strike, Dragonite).

   In all honesty, though, the way Rillaboom ends up playing out is mostly as follows: most outings you rely on Grassy Glide with a match up appropriate anti-snowball tool (defensive cushion) in the back, and only when you're natively faster than almost everything on the opposing team (Rillaboom's good match ups referred to above: stall and such), or need to take a big chunk out of something like Zapdos, Celesteela, or Cinderace likely coming in, but you're not quite confident enough to double switch out yourself, do you click Wood Hammer.

   Lastly, I will admit I am not entirely happy with the Speed investment hitting a real Speed stat of 113, because the 252 Spd Base 60 gang (112) is keeping a low profile as of late in my experience, and merely reaching a Speed tie with 252 Spd Power Herb Celesteela makes Wood Hammer a harder thing to click for the inevitable switch-in, not to mention opposing Kee Berry Mimikyu hovering anywhere between 117-130 real Speed stat. In other words, something to perhaps look into more thoroughly going forward.

Landorus

Defensive response option to both Cinderace, and, to a lesser extent, Zapdos — avoiding the 2HKO from the latter's 252 SpAtt Life Orb Max Airstream in Dynamax form, only dying to variants opting for +252 SpAtt some 12% of the time after Sitrus Berry recovery.

   The two main benchmarks for Speed here are beating 252 Speed Celesteela's 113, and therefore also creeping past Nihilego's 170 by one after a Max Airstream, but these could reasonably be bumped up some more at the expense of Attack-investement to beat Cinderace (126) and Jolly Dracovish (140) at +1, although this would cut heavily into Landorus' ability to break through things like Celesteela and Tapu Fini, and would necessitate going Jolly.

   In Rock Tomb, Landorus also brings the only form of immediate Speed control this team has, and which is also usually the move to click when sacrificing Landorus, intending to Dynamax something else.

Pheromosa

Standard physical Pheromosa lives and dies by Triple Axel, which means games can get decided on turn 1 even more frequently than usual. Pheromosa lead mirrors are an especially fun ride in this regard.

   I cut offensive overage with which to hit Tapu Fini (Poison Jab) due to having checks for it in Nihilego and Rillaboom, and because lead Choice Scarf Tapu Fini beats Pheromosa's native Speed stat of 223 with its 225, winning that hypothetical 1v1 anyway. Furthermore, teams with Tapu Fini on them tend not to be the best match-ups for Pheromosa anyway.

  Bug-type coverage is flat out not good, but U-turn plays into Zapdos and Nihilego, and lets Pheromosa get out while Focus Sash/Sturdy breaking and scouting for items, ideally preserving its Focus Sash throughout.

  But it is Feint that is the odd man out here — helpful in getting around Endure + Custap Berry play (Magnezone, Glastrier), but especially key against Focus Sashed priority users (Cinderace/Urshifu) seeking to pick off a 1 HP Pheromosa. Moreover, because this team does not carry Stealth Rock for purely offensive match-ups, a substantial proportion of all games, any priority that can be slotted in without taking too heavy a toll in terms of opportunity cost is welcome.

   Drill Run was used on USUM's mixed Life Orb Pheromosa to have a move to click against Aegislash, but doesn't really do enough in my view here either currently, with things like Heatran nowhere in sight. So Feint it is.

Nihilego

The main special attacker on this team, Nihilego's Beast Boost makes it an ideal offensive snowball option that doesn't require Dynamax to pop off, and benefits greatly from being slow-or-resist-pivoted in.

   Nihilego has a few more options in terms of coverage and support moves as compared to Pheromosa. Of these the most viable in a vacuum I consider to be Dazzling Gleam (Urshifu/Garchomp), and Stealth Rock/Thunder Wave as a Max Guard option, or, in the case of Substitute, as a way to bait out opposing turns from Dynamax-users inserted to try to wrest back control of the game after a kill by Nihilego.

   On this set, however, the fourth slot is occupied by Psyshock, which positively shines in the Nihilego mirror, and occasionally finds use in setting Psychic Terrain to prevent from getting revenged by priority.

   Nevertheless, because Ferrothorn, Metagross, and Excadrill (SpDef-sets and Sand Rush sweeper [59% usage]) either wall it or set up on it no matter what set it is running, Nihilego has to be paired with some robust, physically defensive stuff, which I have tried to do here, as outlined above.

Mimikyu

In the past, I've mostly gravitated towards cutting some Attack in order to try to Speed creep the Kee Berry Mimikyu mirror, but went with what I think is fair to say is the absolute standard for this. Regardless, Mimikyu is here again, this time to provide options for outs against Zapdos, Nihilego, and the innumerable other non-Cinderace/Celesteela Dynamax users through its combination of Disguise, Max Guard, and Swords Dance-boosted attacks. In other words, no fun allowed.

2) Usage notes

Speed control is a team-wide problem, which further nudges the team into a reactive Dynamax playstyle (Zapdos, Landorus, Mimikyu are all bulky and have Max Guard options), but is at least somewhat ameliorated by the potent priority here.

    Limited special attacking options make well-piloted Scolipede-pass a truly awful match-up, as well as making the team vulnerable to opposing pivot teams with Intimidate (fat U-turn Landorus, Incineroar), meaning Dynamax timings can be a little weird at times. Similarly, things like Kee Berry Zapdos and Dragonite can be a major road block due to having access to Roost recovery.

Start of season with a variant of the team based around pivoting in Choice Band Urshifu-Single-Strike and Nihilego through Zapdos.

Like mentioned at the outset, in the end, I had to resort to pretty standard stuff to claw myself back into decent rankings, evidenced by this miserable win-rate at the conclusion of play on the final day of the season.

And as usual, I end up around 1800 Elo when I'm active at the end of a season.

2.1 Usual team compositions

Pheromosa-Zapdos-Mimikyu/Nihilego

Pheromosa-Mimikyu-

Rillaboom-Zapdos-

2.2 VS Team Select Screen (in order of frequency)

Minor updates below reflect this instructive flowchart, as well as: 1) the rise of Zapdos at the expense of Celesteela; 2) the interactions between Dracovish and its answers Ferrothorn/Tapu Fini; 3) and, the prevalence of Urshifu-Single-Strike and the state of Focus Sash play in general (Cinderace).

Hyper Offense

- Usually comes in the form of Focus Sash user + dedicated Dynamax sweeper + Mimikyu.

- Landorus, Kartana, Dragapult, Urshifu, Naganadel, Pheromosa, Nihilego, Cinderace + Zapdos, Mimikyu, Moxie Gyarados, Dracovish.

Pheromosa-Mimikyu-Zapdos/Landorus

Pheromosa-Zapdos/Landorus-Nihilego

Pheromosa is a good lead against most stuff, protecting its Focus Sash from offensive Stealth Rock setters like Mamoswine, Landorus, and Garchomp by leading Focus Sash. Dynamax Zapdos lives a +1 252 Att Life Orb Gyarados Max Rockfall from full if Mimikyu is benched for whatever reason.

Bulky Offense or Balance

- Purely defensive anti-Dynamax checks: Swampert, Hippowdon, Porygon2, bulky Intimidate users (Landorus, special attacker Salamence, Gyarados).

- Mainly reactive Dynamax options: Porygon2, Landorus, Tapu Fini, Ferrothorn.

- Likely offensive options: Nihilego, Cinderace, Zapdos, Swords Dance Landorus, Kartana, Celesteela. Offensive options likely EV'd defensively to cushion specific hits.

- Wallbreaking options: Choice Band Rillaboom/Urshifu-Single-Strike, Dracovish.

Rillaboom/Pheromosa-Zapdos/Landorus-Mimikyu

Pheromosa-Zapdos-Nihilego

If Dracovish is not present on the opposing side, Landorus usually does well. Nihilego can be nice barring Ferrothorn play.

Screens Mode

- Explosion Regieleki, Taunt + Nature's Madness Tapu Koko, and Grimmsnarl as the three most common Light Clay screens setters, with Grimmsnarl being arguably the scariest because of Prankster and access to various crippling options (Scary Face, Trick Lagging Tail, Thunder Wave).

- Common offensive pairings include Moltres-G, Landorus, Celesteela, Dragon Dance users.

Landorus/Pheromosa-Zapdos-Mimikyu

Landorus/Pheromosa-Mimikyu-Nihilego

Zapdos is mandatory against Grimmsnarl owing to Substitute + Roost. Mimikyu tends to be decent against most screens attackers, barring Celesteela. Nihilego can tank up to a +3 +252 SpAtt Fiery Wrath from Moltres-G. Screens teams usually lack Stealth Rock, so Pheromosa in the back is not the worst thing ever, either.

   Leading Landorus is alright against Regieleki and Tapu Koko, the first Swords Dance usually being free, with Fly as a funny option on Regieleki's Explosion turn depending on what the screens-abuser is likely to be.

Hard Stall

- Toxapex, Chansey/Blissey, Quagsire, Celesteela/Skarmory, Tyranitar, Clefable

- Offensive punch, if present, likely made up of either Cinderace, Celesteela, Pheromosa/Urshifu, Mimikyu, Dragonite, or Zapdos.

Nihilego-Rillaboom-Zapdos/Landorus

Rillaboom's Choice Band Wood Hammer should force a more offensive mode because of how threatening it is to Toxapex, Quagsire, and Chansey. Knock Off is also viable for hitting a Celesteela on the switch, removing a possible Power Herb, making Zapdos a relatively free switch-in.

   Rillaboom also pairs well with Nihilego, neither being walled by Quagsire, like Landorus and Mimikyu are, with Nihilego usually being able to break through stall once Chansey is no longer around.

Trick Room mode (semi-Trick Room)

- Semi-Trick Room as a form of reverse-speed control has the advantage of forcing a secondary mode coin-flip in the team preview screen from teams that rely on snowballing with a sweeper (e.g. Moxie Gyarados) as the main mode.

- Cresselia, Mimikyu, Porygon2 as the most universally viable setters when paired with slow sweepers. Uxie can be hard to read in this regard due to its ability to run several support sets in Stealth Rock + Yawn + pivot, Screens + Yawn/Memento, and Trick Room.

- Notable sweepers that usually give away the game: Glastrier, Rhyperior, Dracovish, or even something like Choice Specs Eruption Torkoal and Stakataka.

- If more than one setter and/or slow offensive powerhouse is present, it's dedicated Trick Room, which is bad, and anyone losing to it should feel bad.

Pheromosa-Zapdos-Mimikyu

Pheromosa-Mimikyu-Nihilego

Nihilego-

Pheromosa + Zapdos/Mimikyu is usually enough to overcome both opposing Focus Sash leads and turn 1 Dynamax. Zapdos is general is in a good position whenever it gets to Substitute on the Trick Room setter, wasting precious turns, although having to be mindful of the possibility of Rock Blast (Rhyperior) and Icicle Spear (Glastrier).

   Against Glastrier-Cresselia, expect to be leading against Glastrier with the full knowledge that they will want to trade with its first HP bar without letting it die, and then Trick Room + Lunar Dance it in back later.

Dedicated Sand Rush Excadrill

- Weather teams that take two slots to come online like the old Eject Pack Overheat Torkoal into Charizard or Focus Sash U-turn Pelipper into Drednaw/Kingdra are wasteful because weather sweepers mainly set their own weather with their Dynamax moves.

- Sand is the exception because Excadrill and especially Hippowdon are amazing in their own right, with the occasional Tyranitar providing Excadrill with special-based offensive coverage, as well as a Zapdos check when brought in the back.

- Sand setter heavily incentivized to run Smooth Rock.

- Likely partners include Intimidate special attacker Salamence, Celesteela, and Tapu Fini.

Rillaboom-Mimikyu-Landorus/Zapdos

Rillaboom-Zapdos-Landorus

Mimikyu and especially Rillaboom are so good against sand mode, they may force out whatever the alternative mode might be, especially if it's something like Zapdos or Celesteela. Nihilego is almost impossible to bring against Excadrill.

Baton Pass

- Only any good because Scolipede is good, likely passing Iron Defense and Speed to a set-up sweeper (for example, Swords Dance users).

- Recipients include Cresselia (Stored Power) and Celesteela, but Clefable remains a standout thanks to Stored Power + Unaware/Magic Guard, with something like Porygon2 able to grind out almost anything, especially if passed to from Dynamax Weakness Policy Scolipede.

- Either straight lead Scolipede/Blaziken, or have dedicated lead up for it in the form of a cripple lead, especially the case for Blaziken.

- Depending on how dedicated the team is, a non-Baton Pass mode likely has some straightforward powerful stuff like Cinderace, Tapu Fini, or Landorus.

Nihilego-Zapdos-Mimikyu/Landorus

This is as close as this team comes to what I consider to be an autoloss when played right by the player piloting Scolipede or Blaziken: there is no Whirlwind Hippowdon to shoo away a Baton Passer, no Curse on Mimikyu to poison the well, and special attack boosting to get around Iron Defense is limited to Nihilego. Basically, if the opponent has a cripple lead for their Baton Passer, the game becomes exceedingly difficult.

3) In Conclusion

With season 13, we also say good riddance to 2020, a year that, it probably goes without saying, for which there is not a soul who is sad to see it go.

   For BSS, the first year of Generation 8 BSS was unprecedentedly varied despite the oppressive nature of Cinderace as of the introduction of Libero: having a slow rollout for the final, complete, metagame (Series 7) saw both old favorites like Togekiss, Lapras, and even Tangrowth (Series 6 Dracozolt meta) have their moments of stardom (but then again, we did have the now-eliminated special ladder for limited metagames in USUM); tweaks and expansions into the pool of allowed pokemon every two months kept things constantly changing — although I can appreciate the fact that not letting things settle properly leaves us not being able to experience the full richness of a given metagame — which saw to it that I was able to get away with unquestionably jank stuff like never before.

   I think, however, as we begin to come closer to the mid-point of this generation of BSS in the coming months, we will get an increasingly clearer picture of just what is possible in this iteration of BSS (in USUM, it took YEARS for people to realize that Tapu Fini was the best Tapu), provided the boat we're currently on, metagame-wise, doesn't get rocked too badly — something I wouldn't be too opposed to, personally.

   GLHF in 2021!

- Tox

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