Teambuilding Competition Thread!
Feb 24, 2017, 01:21 AM
![[Image: icon-nihilego.png]](http://pokemonforever.com/images/pokeimages/icons/N/icon-nihilego.png){kind=icon}
![[Image: icon-gastrodon-east.png]](http://pokemonforever.com/images/pokeimages/icons/G/icon-gastrodon-east.png){kind=icon}
![[Image: icon-arcanine.png]](http://pokemonforever.com/images/pokeimages/icons/A/icon-arcanine.png){kind=icon}
![[Image: icon-celesteela.png]](http://pokemonforever.com/images/pokeimages/icons/C/icon-celesteela.png){kind=icon}
![[Image: icon-tapu-bulu.png]](http://pokemonforever.com/images/pokeimages/icons/T/icon-tapu-bulu.png){kind=icon}
![[Image: icon-tapu-koko.png]](http://pokemonforever.com/images/pokeimages/icons/T/icon-tapu-koko.png){kind=icon}
Get in the Bag
So aside the crappy and cringe title I've just made, this was a team built around offensive Nihilego and having some proper support for it. One of the main issues with Nihilego is its weaknesses to Steel-, Water-, Psychic-, and most notably its quad weakness to Ground-type Pokemon. At first, wanted to make a hyper offensive team centered around Nihilego, though every time I've notice Garchomp (especially scarf sets) can mess up Nihilego. After some thought, might as well go with providing Nihilego a good defensive backbone to find cover whenever its threaten by say Garchomp, Kartana, Tapu Lele, Fini, Celesteela, etc.
Starting with the featured Pokemon, Nihilego is mainly here to threaten opposing Arcanine and Tapus with its main STAB options with HP Ice to cover for slower and weaken Garchomp that won't pull a fast one. For item choice, Focus Sash is opted to allow for Nihilego to live one fatal hit from say a random Ground-type High Horse Power from Snorlax, though at the cost of losing its offensive potential. Despite the lack of power, the team Nihilego is based on can somewhat make up for it as they progressively chip away at the opponent until they are weak enough to where Nihilego can sweep.
Gastrodon is here mainly to counter rain-based teams and redirect any harmful Water-type hits away from Nihilego. Thanks to its typing, Gastrodon is one of the few Pokemon who can handle Fire- and Steel-type Pokemon and can threaten opposing Ground-types with its STAB Scald and Ice Beam. Toxic is listed here to wear down bulky threats such as Milotic, Snorlax, Porygon2, etc to ensure they aren't extremely threatening in the long-run. Even with standard recovery in Recover, can't have enough with the Wiki Berry so Gastrodon can recover about 50% of its HP when at below 25%.
Here's something of a weird set few people might know: Assault Vest Aloe Vera Woofers. See the thing is Woofers love military-style vests since they chew on it all day. Like you know what would be better.... Aloe Vera Woofers in Tuxs....
Jokes aside, Assault Vest Arcanine is surely a strange site, but it was made to somewhat be a balance of a defensive and offensive variants while being a pivot of sorts. With the item, Arcanine gains an increased special defense stats which allow it to tank some strong special hits, even Z-Thunderbolt from Tapu Koko and Psychic-Terrain boosted Psychic from Tapu Lele. Flare Blitz is mainly there for STAB for Steel-, Grass-, Bug, and Ice-types. Wild Charge is for Water-types which can be annoying for this team if Gastrodon isn't present. Bulldoze is my team's sad attempt of speed control, which reduces the speed by one stage. This can be useful for my there Pokemon who lack speed options. Finally Extreme Speed is there for priority, though it can be replace for something like Snarl to reduce the damage of special attackers.
Celesteela is honestly the main anchor of this team as without it, Nihilego loses a vital partner who's not only immune to Ground-types, but can them on 1v1. The moveset is fairly standard with Heavy Slam for general STAB and Flamethrower to pressure opposing Celesteela and Kartana. Leech Seed provides Celesteela recovery and chips away at the opponent's HP gradually to where they have to switch out. Will like to note this is a specially defensive Celesteela, so it can actually raise is SpD and potential handle threats like Tapu Koko with those beast boosts.
This Tapu Bulu set is inspired by this guy I've battled one time on PS, but don't know the exact set or EVs. Mainly the goal of this Tapu Bulu is to pressure opposing Water-types and even those it resist with Bulk Ups setup and chip away opponents with +1 Grassy Terrain-boosted Horn Leech or Superpower. Speaking of Grassy Terrain, Tapu Bulu can mitigate the damage done by Earthquake against three members of my team, even Nihilego. The defense investment allow Tapu Bulu to withstand Poison Jab from Garchomp or Hurricane from Pelipper most of the time without any boosts or items.
Last, but not least, we have our favorite Electric-type Pokemon in Tapu Koko. Though the EV Spread might seem standard, note a couple item choice and move selection in Farium Z and Sky Drop. Farium Z allows Tapu Koko to actually threaten most Garchomp sets with an immediate OHKO and do the same to most other Tapu Koko variants that aren't Sash or invested in SpDef. Lastly Sky Drop allows Tapu Koko to "pick up" a Pokemon and remove them from play for one turn, which can be enough to stop a target or render and Follow Me redirection support useless.
The team itself revolved around attempting to gain good position with Nihilego and one of the Tapus while using the other 4 Pokemon as defensive pivots to withstand hits and gradually wear down the opponent. For the weather matchup, Celesteela/Arcanine can handle Hail, Gastrodon/Tapu Koko deals with Rain, Nihilego/Arcanine/Tapu Koko matches with Sun, and Gastrodon/Arcanine/Celesteela can beat sand teams. For the Trick Room matchup, the team has defensive responses in Arcanine, Celesteela, and Gastrodon to stall out turns while Tapu Koko can temporary postpone it with Sky Drop.
So that's the team. Hope you all enjoy it!
Starting with the featured Pokemon, Nihilego is mainly here to threaten opposing Arcanine and Tapus with its main STAB options with HP Ice to cover for slower and weaken Garchomp that won't pull a fast one. For item choice, Focus Sash is opted to allow for Nihilego to live one fatal hit from say a random Ground-type High Horse Power from Snorlax, though at the cost of losing its offensive potential. Despite the lack of power, the team Nihilego is based on can somewhat make up for it as they progressively chip away at the opponent until they are weak enough to where Nihilego can sweep.
Gastrodon is here mainly to counter rain-based teams and redirect any harmful Water-type hits away from Nihilego. Thanks to its typing, Gastrodon is one of the few Pokemon who can handle Fire- and Steel-type Pokemon and can threaten opposing Ground-types with its STAB Scald and Ice Beam. Toxic is listed here to wear down bulky threats such as Milotic, Snorlax, Porygon2, etc to ensure they aren't extremely threatening in the long-run. Even with standard recovery in Recover, can't have enough with the Wiki Berry so Gastrodon can recover about 50% of its HP when at below 25%.
Here's something of a weird set few people might know: Assault Vest Aloe Vera Woofers. See the thing is Woofers love military-style vests since they chew on it all day. Like you know what would be better.... Aloe Vera Woofers in Tuxs....
Jokes aside, Assault Vest Arcanine is surely a strange site, but it was made to somewhat be a balance of a defensive and offensive variants while being a pivot of sorts. With the item, Arcanine gains an increased special defense stats which allow it to tank some strong special hits, even Z-Thunderbolt from Tapu Koko and Psychic-Terrain boosted Psychic from Tapu Lele. Flare Blitz is mainly there for STAB for Steel-, Grass-, Bug, and Ice-types. Wild Charge is for Water-types which can be annoying for this team if Gastrodon isn't present. Bulldoze is my team's sad attempt of speed control, which reduces the speed by one stage. This can be useful for my there Pokemon who lack speed options. Finally Extreme Speed is there for priority, though it can be replace for something like Snarl to reduce the damage of special attackers.
Celesteela is honestly the main anchor of this team as without it, Nihilego loses a vital partner who's not only immune to Ground-types, but can them on 1v1. The moveset is fairly standard with Heavy Slam for general STAB and Flamethrower to pressure opposing Celesteela and Kartana. Leech Seed provides Celesteela recovery and chips away at the opponent's HP gradually to where they have to switch out. Will like to note this is a specially defensive Celesteela, so it can actually raise is SpD and potential handle threats like Tapu Koko with those beast boosts.
This Tapu Bulu set is inspired by this guy I've battled one time on PS, but don't know the exact set or EVs. Mainly the goal of this Tapu Bulu is to pressure opposing Water-types and even those it resist with Bulk Ups setup and chip away opponents with +1 Grassy Terrain-boosted Horn Leech or Superpower. Speaking of Grassy Terrain, Tapu Bulu can mitigate the damage done by Earthquake against three members of my team, even Nihilego. The defense investment allow Tapu Bulu to withstand Poison Jab from Garchomp or Hurricane from Pelipper most of the time without any boosts or items.
Last, but not least, we have our favorite Electric-type Pokemon in Tapu Koko. Though the EV Spread might seem standard, note a couple item choice and move selection in Farium Z and Sky Drop. Farium Z allows Tapu Koko to actually threaten most Garchomp sets with an immediate OHKO and do the same to most other Tapu Koko variants that aren't Sash or invested in SpDef. Lastly Sky Drop allows Tapu Koko to "pick up" a Pokemon and remove them from play for one turn, which can be enough to stop a target or render and Follow Me redirection support useless.
The team itself revolved around attempting to gain good position with Nihilego and one of the Tapus while using the other 4 Pokemon as defensive pivots to withstand hits and gradually wear down the opponent. For the weather matchup, Celesteela/Arcanine can handle Hail, Gastrodon/Tapu Koko deals with Rain, Nihilego/Arcanine/Tapu Koko matches with Sun, and Gastrodon/Arcanine/Celesteela can beat sand teams. For the Trick Room matchup, the team has defensive responses in Arcanine, Celesteela, and Gastrodon to stall out turns while Tapu Koko can temporary postpone it with Sky Drop.
So that's the team. Hope you all enjoy it!
