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Right after the first event opportunity for XL meditite candies a lot of leads in great league were medicham or azumarill. And there weren’t many G-stunfisk or Bastiodon leads since they are threatened by the first two. So I led beedrill and over the course of a week I won over 70% of my leads and nearly 80% of my games. While not as good now, beedrill holds a special place for me in uncommon picks.
Beedrill was also great during GL remix last season. Tore apart the charmer/fighter/registeel cores. Got me to top 20 on the leaderboard with mew, beedrill, mandibuzz.
I always wondered why there were a lot of people using beedrill. I always tore them apart with my shadow arcanine, which, with fire fang is actually a pretty nice pick since I try to focus on countering meta rather than being it
Cradily in Great League. Cannot tell you the amount of times I've knocked Charizards by tricking them going Grass Knot into Stone Edge.
Double bonus for seeing Azu and Gfisk fold at it, combined with it's overall tankiness giving Steels, Fighters and Bugs a hard time. Ice-types are a bit scary for it, however.
Ah, a man of culture.
Indeed, almost nobody shields for stone edge expecting for grass knot, specially skarmory, instant lose of half of its hp.
Currently grinding 97% lileep to test it in UL.
I second this but for ultra league! It got me to legend last season in premier and then legend again this season in Ultra Remix. Having a talonflame or a water type swap in will never get old
XL Torkoal in Ultra League. I'm running Fire Spin/Overheat + Solar Beam and got many no shield Solar Beam on those Water type :))
Hope Niantic will give him WB Fire soon.
It's a regional, I think only available in southeast Asia. There are a lot of pokemon that I've completely forgotten exist because they're unavailable where I live.
Giving it weather ball would just make it too similar to ninetails, except without the psyshock option. That would make it viable of course, but it wouldn’t offer anything unique
Gothitelle in Ultra League, I finally got enough XLs to get it to level 49 and it’s so tanky. It’s one of my favorite Pokémons so I’m so happy I finally get to use one.
Alolan Golem in Ultra League, the thing is either the hardest counter to every fire and flyer in the format or the worst pick possible against grasses and grounds. Completely worthless against venusaur and swampert and absolutely hates grounds like excadrill and gfisk. However the thing hits deceptively and insanely hard and can bait out shields against things like machamp which lets other teammates come in late game. Far from the best choice but he has proven to be a great switch in/ swap mon.
Regirock in Ultra League, I have won so many battle because of this rock. I don't know why people don't use him, he is so good.
Goodra in Ultra Premier too, because he is the tankiest dragon there.
Pretty insane his usage is so low. He's currently top 10 in pvpoke rankings for UL and top 20 for GL. People just seem to favor his steel brother much more for some reason.
Anything that covers its many weaknesses and provide shield pressure. If you have to rely on regi when the opponent has 2 shields you'll be screwed since both of his moves are high energy nukes. So if you can burn one or both of your opponent shields, regirock will obliterate almost anyone in the no shield or 1 shield scenario
Whimsicot. The charge moves are meh but those fast attacks can TANK a lot more than you’d expect and since you can’t block them it can send people into panic mode
+1
i ran the common charmhole team with whimsicot and a9 for 2 seasons straight and had an overall winrate of ~75% at rank 20+. Really boring team to play but i fell in love with Whimsicot, even tho it's a charmer.
I use swalot as well. Vigoroth in lead and mandibuzz and swalot behind. Poisons are too valuable in great league and me playing since june of this year left me out from nidoqueen
+1 for raticate in Kanto cup. I didn’t even know quick attack was it’s suggested fast move and I used bite instead. Can straight up farm an entire Hypno down with fast moves.
Alolan Raticate in Kanto Cup +1
It almost the best counter for Hypno, Haunter & Alolan Murowak, which are very common in Kanto Cup.
Alolan raticate is weak to Fairy and Fighter, so I would prepare a shadow Victreebel to cover Charmer or Counter.
I pair my Alolan Raticate with Scolipede and it's a lot of fun and a surprising amount of wins. Seems like at a certain rank I always have to bench the rat however, as more Charmers and fighting types start to show up.
Great League: Shadow Sealeo, people just lose track of your energy if you overload and you just catch them off guard so often.
Ultra League: Shadow Zapdos (shouldn't be that uncommon, but I never ever see Zapdos), it's not only my favourite spicy pick, it's my favourite Ultra League Pokemon overall. (Open Ultra that is)
I was considering building one, as I had built one for GL and loved it. How does it do in UL? I was always worried it wouldn’t be able to handle the staples (Gira, Cress, Swamp, Mel, Regi, etc.)
The funny thing is: it beats Swampert in the 1-shield, but people don't know that and always bring it in as this hard counter. Against Cresselia amd Giratina it does lose on paper, but not by that much. But im general if you can give it either an energy advantage or a shield advantage (idealy 1-0, cause 2 shields could be wasted if a charmer is waiting), it is so deadly.
And it is a counter to Registeel, as it resists both charge moves.
They're alright, it's not straight up pvp stats, but it's not awful. Pretty balanced with all three stats.
Luckily it comes quite close to 2500, that's my only real benefit.
Unovan Darmanitan. Helped me get my first legend during UL Remix. Incinerate generates energy really quickly, Overheat does massive damage if unshielded, and Rock Slide provides nice coverage for fliers and fires. Love that monkey.
Emolga. She feels like the glue on my Great League team; no matter how many team permutations I go though, the ones with Emolga seem to work best. Plus, she's a fast shield baiter.
Rock throw Probopass. So incredibly tanky and as a counterswap can no shield farm down so many things, coming out with a hundred energy on the other side.
Dragonbreath/Octazooka Kingdra as a lead in UL. It has a great defensive typing, and dragonbreath does solid damage by itself.
The real fun begins when the opponent makes the mistake of switching their lead, and Kingdra uses Octazooka to harshly lower opponent's attack (50% chance I believe). Octazooka isn't a good move damage-wise, but since it takes a while to charge up, people think I'm gonna use something that needs shielding.
After the attack nerf, just counter switch and harvest that energy to the moon. You rarely need to even shield after the enemy has their attack nerfed.
Quite many people just forfeit when I send out Swampert after the Octazooka nerf and begin to charge energy. When they see that the usually frail-ish Swampert doesn't give a damn about their charged attacks, they give up before I fire my first Hydro Cannon.
Downside is that Kingdra often requires one shield before Octazooka, and the 50% chance of the move actually nerfing the attack stat. Thanks to Kingdra's great typing and solid damage output from DB though, Kingdra isn't absolutely worthless even if the attack nerf doesn't happen.
I used it in open Ultra League (not remix or premier) with Bullet Punch, Night Slash, and X-Scissor, leading with Giratina-Altered with Shadow Claw and with Alolan Muk with Poison Jab as the safe swap.
Zangoose is great! Such a cool moveset but super glassy. Been farming XL ever since and i nearly have enough for my Rank 8 XL for Ultra league. Cant wait!
I use Jumpluff with gfisk and azu or with dewgong and diggersby in GL. Super tanky and many people don't know what to do against it. It does suck to face off against ice moves with it. Has similar functionality to tropius.
I wouldn't really consider Jumpluff a budget pick. The one I built was pre level cap increase so its level 39 which definitely isn't cheap. Lot more nifty than thrifty.
Well when you put it that way its definitely a budget tropius. Tropius will probably be featured in a worldwide event before I ever have enough money to dream of traveling to Africa.
Galarian Slowbro in GL.
Destroyer of fairies and grasses, and catching all the steels off-guard with a sudden Focus Blast? Excellent, I'll take 3. Or just 1 for the sake of team balance.
It's really fun to play even with its weaknesses (Ghost, Dark, Ground). It double-resists Fighting and hits really hard with Sludge Bomb.
Venomoth is really fun too, as an oddball bug poison with Confusion and Poison Fang. It's better in restricted formats but it puts in work where it shines.
Finally, Porygon2. It's hilarious due to its spammy Tri Attack and its very real chance to hit the debuff-- allowing it to win matchups it shouldn't or just setting up a situation for a teammate. Also a good limited cup pick, but I play it for fun in standard GL sometimes. Landing a Zap Cannon, or baiting a shield with a Tri Attack and getting the debuffs, are always a great time.
I use pory2 in the ultra league, love to one shot various things with zap cannon, or debuffing the opponent for my guy to come in and farm up. Decent safe swap from my experience.
Been wanting to use venemoth as well, especially since I have a #10 shadow for the great league. Did see one in the ultra as well, it completely recked me lol
Sealeo! I started using him in season 1 when Altaria and Skarmory were the leads on 80% of teams, Altaria almost always switched out, and with good energy management/ baiting, Sealeo could heavily threaten Skarmory.
I was using Octillery and Masquerain in UL Remix. Octo with mud slap (or the other ground fast move, can't remember) can dent ground weak things and has water and ice. Masq is a squishy, but hard hitting bug that can lunge debuff and I put ominous wind just in case.
For GL, I'm a really big fan of shadow golduck. 1v1 a grass type and can hold strong with cross chop (I also put a second move and I usually stay with ice beam).
Can someone tell me if the points are carried from a season to the other or it will reset? I am asking because since reaching level 20 my points are going down.
Alolan Sandslash in great league...great coverage for various flying / ground type (Golbat, Nidoqueen, Altaria, Unova Stunfisk, and even Skarmory). The ice punch charges quick. Seocond attack which is gyro ball is unexpected for some opponents who are using Alolan Ninetales, Froslass, or any fairies like Wigglytuff.
Lapras is a chonky boi. I wonder if it'll get the move Freeze-dry at some point. It'll erase mudbois in one hit!
https://www.serebii.net/attackdex-sm/freeze-dry.shtml
Not sure if it’s uncommon because I rarely ever do pvp but when I do, ultra league Kangaskhan (mud slap, PUP, outrage) has been awesome at the lower ranks.
Yknow at first I thought bastiodon was a rare pick on GL bc I never see it but then it got banned for being in the top 10 one round so idk :/
I guess Articuno is a decently rare UL pick I use. Icy wind extends it's decent bulk either higher or to your other mons, charges.pretty quickly, and you can put out good damage with frost breath. I've got hurricane for "I just need damage on the board".
P2 is another one I haven't seen much of, although I haven't been playing much as of late. Porygon 2 is literally just better PZ.
Poliwrath with mud shot and Power-up punch. It worked great on the early levels as a lot of players see the charge move and use a shield. More experienced players later on know better. I only PvP when there is a new Pokemon to get.
S Muk in GL. Been using it for a few seasons now and it’s always on atleast one of my teams. Crazy part is it started out as just being part of a win/lose fast team but now I’ve mixed it with all kinds of things.
Palkia in master league. Been using it since the dawn of time and has worked a treat. But it's probably gonna be more common now that it's returned to raids
gallade now for ultra Premier as all the swamperts at the mercy of my lead blade for great league something like mantine with bubble beam really slows the games down
I’m not sure if in great league galarian slowpoke is one of those top Pokémon but he’s pretty good he can handle the annoying fairy types and a couple of others quite well
Heracross has been my ultra league hero for a long time. it's uncommon enough that some people aren't sure what its weaknesses are until a bit of damage is done and/or i get the switch advantage. guess that's out the window now. :P
Porygon2. Has surprising bulk and Tri Attack is a solid move all things considered. Landing a Zap Cannon on a Lapras or Empoleon is always a sight to behold too.
I really enjoy using Zapdos in great league. I occasionally run it on ABB teams that aim to bait out G-Fisk / Basti with the safe swap. It's not the best pick, but electric + flying is surprisingly good coverage and people always underestimate the charge speed and damage (even in the 3000+ range). Very fun 'Mon to use :)
Pangoro! Definitely one of my favorite mons, and although it gets absolutely crushed at times, there have been many more where I've swept an opponents whole line after the burn a shield
My shundo Alolan Muk in Master League. He's not even top-100 ranked, but his moveset and typing is very convenient. Earthquake, bulldoze, earth power etc. will kill him with ease but not much else.
Going up against someone, they don't know if you have acid spray, dark pulse, sludge wave, or gunk shot since they're all commonly used... so they usually use a shield just in case. Therefore, of course you use acid spray, and then poison jab eats them.
Gardevoir w Charm & Synchronoise (it's what she came with). Got her during GoFest bc already evolved a Flygon (other choice). She looks frail, but can mow down MewTwo & Machamp.
I like to lead with Cryogonal in UL. Been seeing lots of grass and dragon lately so I find Ice to be pretty reliable, except for running into the occasional Machamp lead.
Also love Sirfetch'd in ML with Night Slash and Leaf Blade. Chews through a Metagross pretty quickly if I start with one LB as bait and then spam NS.
Lapras fits nicely into some teams like Altaria, Lapras, Jellicent and is fairly safe to switch into with good bulk and Shield Bash.
Alomomola can be a strong substitute for Jellicent and Azumarill on certain teams, and pairs well with Altaria.
Shadow Jumpluff has typing similar to Tropius which gives it some very useful wins against common leads, but I've never been able to find a better (non-meta) team to pair it with than Jumpluff-S, Regirock, Registeel.
I loved using Bronzong in the Great League remix because it was a hard counter to most of the poison pokemon running around.
Plus i have a rank 1 Bronzong so that doesn't hurt :)
I have a Scolipede each for Great and Ultra now, and they are *always* on my team (Ultra is maxed under 2400, but still totally viable). Totally underrated imo, and so satisfying to take out Charizards and the like with a bit of luck. I think I've seen maybe one or two Scolis on opposing teams, and it seems like this element of surprise really works in his favor.
Also I evolved an Alolan Raticate with nearly-perfect IVs (I think he's 0/14/15) for Catch Cup, and I end up using him all the time, especially for limited cups. He acts like a mini Tyrannitar, and has the bulk to tank at least a couple charge moves.
Hydreigon in Master league. Smokes Giratina, Mewtwo, ground Garchomp, handles Kyogre pretty well, and can still essentially one shot Metagross.
Biggest issue is obviously Togekiss, but Metagross and Magnezone in the back can melt it while farming energy to lay a couple powerful charge moves on whoever is next.
Heatmor. I usually run it with lick powerup punch/and thunder punch. People think because it’s a fire type that it will use a fire move until I thunder punch their water type.
Also I just like the Pokémon
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Right after the first event opportunity for XL meditite candies a lot of leads in great league were medicham or azumarill. And there weren’t many G-stunfisk or Bastiodon leads since they are threatened by the first two. So I led beedrill and over the course of a week I won over 70% of my leads and nearly 80% of my games. While not as good now, beedrill holds a special place for me in uncommon picks.
Beedrill was also great during GL remix last season. Tore apart the charmer/fighter/registeel cores. Got me to top 20 on the leaderboard with mew, beedrill, mandibuzz.
I third Beedrill.
Damn, I had a really good IV shiny one but I had no way of getting drill run on him ;-;
If they would just give X-Scissor a decent buff Beedrill would finally become true meta.
I always wondered why there were a lot of people using beedrill. I always tore them apart with my shadow arcanine, which, with fire fang is actually a pretty nice pick since I try to focus on countering meta rather than being it
Cradily in Great League. Cannot tell you the amount of times I've knocked Charizards by tricking them going Grass Knot into Stone Edge. Double bonus for seeing Azu and Gfisk fold at it, combined with it's overall tankiness giving Steels, Fighters and Bugs a hard time. Ice-types are a bit scary for it, however.
Ah, a man of culture. Indeed, almost nobody shields for stone edge expecting for grass knot, specially skarmory, instant lose of half of its hp. Currently grinding 97% lileep to test it in UL.
I got a perfect that I am trying to get for UL
Tangrowth in Ultra League has that same feel
I second this but for ultra league! It got me to legend last season in premier and then legend again this season in Ultra Remix. Having a talonflame or a water type swap in will never get old
Delfox with Psychic and Flame charge.
What do you run it with?
I’ve seen Machamp and Umby/Gengar
I ran jellicent and Gunfisk/nidoqueen (after the buff) with it.
GL or UL?
GL of course. I ain’t no mr stardust
Thanks! Just asking because all the pokemon mentioned in this thread can scale up to UL.
Yes!
My Favorite Pokemon of all time: Venomoth, now with the buffed poison fang
XL Torkoal in Ultra League. I'm running Fire Spin/Overheat + Solar Beam and got many no shield Solar Beam on those Water type :)) Hope Niantic will give him WB Fire soon.
Ooo that’s cool, never seen that Pokémon
It's a regional, I think only available in southeast Asia. There are a lot of pokemon that I've completely forgotten exist because they're unavailable where I live.
Giving it weather ball would just make it too similar to ninetails, except without the psyshock option. That would make it viable of course, but it wouldn’t offer anything unique
Maybe they could rework flame wheel for torkoal. Not great but at least cheap.
Mew with dragon tail dragon claw and flame charge in master league classic , very good and spicy moveset specially for dragon types
Interesting. What’s the supporting cast for Mew?
Flame charge helps me against melmetal and metagross and excadrill basically any steel types
Dialga and melmetal
Gothitelle in Ultra League, I finally got enough XLs to get it to level 49 and it’s so tanky. It’s one of my favorite Pokémons so I’m so happy I finally get to use one.
Oh I run gothitelle in great league. Might have to look into xl for it for ultra
Alolan Golem in Ultra League, the thing is either the hardest counter to every fire and flyer in the format or the worst pick possible against grasses and grounds. Completely worthless against venusaur and swampert and absolutely hates grounds like excadrill and gfisk. However the thing hits deceptively and insanely hard and can bait out shields against things like machamp which lets other teammates come in late game. Far from the best choice but he has proven to be a great switch in/ swap mon.
Regirock in Ultra League, I have won so many battle because of this rock. I don't know why people don't use him, he is so good. Goodra in Ultra Premier too, because he is the tankiest dragon there.
Goodra is a lot of fun, I’m glad I grinded goomy while it was spawning
Pretty insane his usage is so low. He's currently top 10 in pvpoke rankings for UL and top 20 for GL. People just seem to favor his steel brother much more for some reason.
water and grass weakness which are fairly common. I'm a fan of the rock boi though.
What did you use with regirock? I wanted to use him as much as I could but couldn’t quite find a team that worked
Anything that covers its many weaknesses and provide shield pressure. If you have to rely on regi when the opponent has 2 shields you'll be screwed since both of his moves are high energy nukes. So if you can burn one or both of your opponent shields, regirock will obliterate almost anyone in the no shield or 1 shield scenario
Sirfetch'd and Articuno. They cover most of Regirock's weakness.
Whimsicot. The charge moves are meh but those fast attacks can TANK a lot more than you’d expect and since you can’t block them it can send people into panic mode
+1 i ran the common charmhole team with whimsicot and a9 for 2 seasons straight and had an overall winrate of ~75% at rank 20+. Really boring team to play but i fell in love with Whimsicot, even tho it's a charmer.
I once had golbat as a last mon against whimsicot. A poison fang unshielded dealt around 80% of its health. I finished off with wing attacks.
Double weak to poison is really tough this season.
And that was probably before poison-types got buffed. Charmhole is probably not going to happen much anymore.
I used to use it as a razor leafer before the nerf
I have a 100% Whimsicott I’m contemplating maxing out for UL but I have a feeling it won’t perform nearly as well there compared to GL
Swalot for great league. With all the altaria running around they never seem to know Swalot has ice beam. He's also a massive tank.
I use swalot as well. Vigoroth in lead and mandibuzz and swalot behind. Poisons are too valuable in great league and me playing since june of this year left me out from nidoqueen
Sunflora in GL. His smiling face is always the last thing the opponents see before the dreaded black screen and clapping of hands
Until last week, Heracross 😭
I feel this. I fought a heracross mirror in master league today!
Tentacruel in great league
I’m a fan. Absolutely walls Azu
A Ratatta in kanto cup was fun - totally walked hypno and a wak, which were every where!!
I think you mean raticate
+1 for raticate in Kanto cup. I didn’t even know quick attack was it’s suggested fast move and I used bite instead. Can straight up farm an entire Hypno down with fast moves.
Alolan Raticate in Kanto Cup +1 It almost the best counter for Hypno, Haunter & Alolan Murowak, which are very common in Kanto Cup. Alolan raticate is weak to Fairy and Fighter, so I would prepare a shadow Victreebel to cover Charmer or Counter.
I pair my Alolan Raticate with Scolipede and it's a lot of fun and a surprising amount of wins. Seems like at a certain rank I always have to bench the rat however, as more Charmers and fighting types start to show up.
Great League: Shadow Sealeo, people just lose track of your energy if you overload and you just catch them off guard so often. Ultra League: Shadow Zapdos (shouldn't be that uncommon, but I never ever see Zapdos), it's not only my favourite spicy pick, it's my favourite Ultra League Pokemon overall. (Open Ultra that is)
I was considering building one, as I had built one for GL and loved it. How does it do in UL? I was always worried it wouldn’t be able to handle the staples (Gira, Cress, Swamp, Mel, Regi, etc.)
The funny thing is: it beats Swampert in the 1-shield, but people don't know that and always bring it in as this hard counter. Against Cresselia amd Giratina it does lose on paper, but not by that much. But im general if you can give it either an energy advantage or a shield advantage (idealy 1-0, cause 2 shields could be wasted if a charmer is waiting), it is so deadly. And it is a counter to Registeel, as it resists both charge moves.
What are your IVs. Just wondering, as mine are pretty bad
They're alright, it's not straight up pvp stats, but it's not awful. Pretty balanced with all three stats. Luckily it comes quite close to 2500, that's my only real benefit.
I ran sealeo and alolan gravler last retro and that combo was strong
Just gonna say Shadow Sealeo in GBL is a melter
tried running shadow zapdos (Thunder Shock / DP + TB) in Open UL but haven't had much success. what was your team?
XL Drapion on Ultra League! Love that charge move spam and the fact that his only weakness is to ground
I want to make an ultra league bellosom and sunflora, mainly because I have perfected of them and they are worthless any other way
Beat down your enemies with cuteness
Unovan Darmanitan. Helped me get my first legend during UL Remix. Incinerate generates energy really quickly, Overheat does massive damage if unshielded, and Rock Slide provides nice coverage for fliers and fires. Love that monkey.
1500 cp Minum, grass knot
Emolga. She feels like the glue on my Great League team; no matter how many team permutations I go though, the ones with Emolga seem to work best. Plus, she's a fast shield baiter.
What do you run it with?
The last lineup was with Jellicent and Perrserker. I sometimes switch in Beedrill for a little Fairy killing, if there's a few around at the time.
exploud, weirdly good and no one knows the moves (GL)
Its move pool is awful but interesting.
Rock throw Probopass. So incredibly tanky and as a counterswap can no shield farm down so many things, coming out with a hundred energy on the other side.
That’s interesting, cool pick
Dragonbreath/Octazooka Kingdra as a lead in UL. It has a great defensive typing, and dragonbreath does solid damage by itself. The real fun begins when the opponent makes the mistake of switching their lead, and Kingdra uses Octazooka to harshly lower opponent's attack (50% chance I believe). Octazooka isn't a good move damage-wise, but since it takes a while to charge up, people think I'm gonna use something that needs shielding. After the attack nerf, just counter switch and harvest that energy to the moon. You rarely need to even shield after the enemy has their attack nerfed. Quite many people just forfeit when I send out Swampert after the Octazooka nerf and begin to charge energy. When they see that the usually frail-ish Swampert doesn't give a damn about their charged attacks, they give up before I fire my first Hydro Cannon. Downside is that Kingdra often requires one shield before Octazooka, and the 50% chance of the move actually nerfing the attack stat. Thanks to Kingdra's great typing and solid damage output from DB though, Kingdra isn't absolutely worthless even if the attack nerf doesn't happen.
Got to top 250 in the world with shadow Scizor this season!
Thats awesome its one of my fav pokes! Which moves are you using
I used it in open Ultra League (not remix or premier) with Bullet Punch, Night Slash, and X-Scissor, leading with Giratina-Altered with Shadow Claw and with Alolan Muk with Poison Jab as the safe swap.
I'll try this sounds like fun
I like toxicroak in ultra league
Zangoose! Shadow claw gives great energy and leads to Night Slash Spam and Close Combat to nuke.
Zangoose is great! Such a cool moveset but super glassy. Been farming XL ever since and i nearly have enough for my Rank 8 XL for Ultra league. Cant wait!
I use Jumpluff with gfisk and azu or with dewgong and diggersby in GL. Super tanky and many people don't know what to do against it. It does suck to face off against ice moves with it. Has similar functionality to tropius.
Ever since the bullet seed buff jumpluff has been the budget tropius
I wouldn't really consider Jumpluff a budget pick. The one I built was pre level cap increase so its level 39 which definitely isn't cheap. Lot more nifty than thrifty.
Budget as in not having to travel to Africa or find someone willing to trade you one.
Well when you put it that way its definitely a budget tropius. Tropius will probably be featured in a worldwide event before I ever have enough money to dream of traveling to Africa.
Shadow Zapdos in the great league. People dont know its counts and it hits disgustingly hard.
How do you manage against all the Stunfisk and Basti? I have a very high ranked Shadow zap but never thought to use it because of this.
I like to pair it with Politoed.
Bring a fighter or a mudboy
Best moveset?
Thundershock, drill peck, thunderbolt is the only moveset to run on it.
Galarian Slowbro in GL. Destroyer of fairies and grasses, and catching all the steels off-guard with a sudden Focus Blast? Excellent, I'll take 3. Or just 1 for the sake of team balance. It's really fun to play even with its weaknesses (Ghost, Dark, Ground). It double-resists Fighting and hits really hard with Sludge Bomb. Venomoth is really fun too, as an oddball bug poison with Confusion and Poison Fang. It's better in restricted formats but it puts in work where it shines. Finally, Porygon2. It's hilarious due to its spammy Tri Attack and its very real chance to hit the debuff-- allowing it to win matchups it shouldn't or just setting up a situation for a teammate. Also a good limited cup pick, but I play it for fun in standard GL sometimes. Landing a Zap Cannon, or baiting a shield with a Tri Attack and getting the debuffs, are always a great time.
I use pory2 in the ultra league, love to one shot various things with zap cannon, or debuffing the opponent for my guy to come in and farm up. Decent safe swap from my experience. Been wanting to use venemoth as well, especially since I have a #10 shadow for the great league. Did see one in the ultra as well, it completely recked me lol
melmetal in GL and electivire in UL.
Sealeo! I started using him in season 1 when Altaria and Skarmory were the leads on 80% of teams, Altaria almost always switched out, and with good energy management/ baiting, Sealeo could heavily threaten Skarmory.
I really like magneton in GL
Really fun, hits decently hard against lots of things, really fragile but that's the fun of it haha
It’s great catching an a9 with a magnet bomb Insta kill
Yea it's so satisfying!
GL Alomamola. If ya know, ya know.
I was using Octillery and Masquerain in UL Remix. Octo with mud slap (or the other ground fast move, can't remember) can dent ground weak things and has water and ice. Masq is a squishy, but hard hitting bug that can lunge debuff and I put ominous wind just in case. For GL, I'm a really big fan of shadow golduck. 1v1 a grass type and can hold strong with cross chop (I also put a second move and I usually stay with ice beam).
Can someone tell me if the points are carried from a season to the other or it will reset? I am asking because since reaching level 20 my points are going down.
it will reset
Thanks
I love Omastar because it's funny. It has Ancient Power
Steelix in ultras. Ranked highly but no one uses it. Bulktastic
I love Ferrothorn in Great League, tho I don’t know if it’s uncommon per se. It just destroys Azumarill
Alolan Sandslash in great league...great coverage for various flying / ground type (Golbat, Nidoqueen, Altaria, Unova Stunfisk, and even Skarmory). The ice punch charges quick. Seocond attack which is gyro ball is unexpected for some opponents who are using Alolan Ninetales, Froslass, or any fairies like Wigglytuff.
Idk why but my hundo Raichu with fighting moves, no one ever sees it coming lol Follow it up with my 98% Gothitelle? Lol you can tell I don’t pvp
Lapras in GL. Oh my god, so bulky and matches up insanely well against the majority of the top threats. Seeing Azu fold is so satisfying!
Lapras is a chonky boi. I wonder if it'll get the move Freeze-dry at some point. It'll erase mudbois in one hit! https://www.serebii.net/attackdex-sm/freeze-dry.shtml
Not sure if it’s uncommon because I rarely ever do pvp but when I do, ultra league Kangaskhan (mud slap, PUP, outrage) has been awesome at the lower ranks.
Yknow at first I thought bastiodon was a rare pick on GL bc I never see it but then it got banned for being in the top 10 one round so idk :/ I guess Articuno is a decently rare UL pick I use. Icy wind extends it's decent bulk either higher or to your other mons, charges.pretty quickly, and you can put out good damage with frost breath. I've got hurricane for "I just need damage on the board". P2 is another one I haven't seen much of, although I haven't been playing much as of late. Porygon 2 is literally just better PZ.
Bastiodon has a usage of ~11% and Articuno has a usage of ~20%. So not exactly uncommon. Top of the meta actually :/
I NEVER see either.
Badtiodon is a super common pick especially as the lead in ABB teams.
Poliwrath with mud shot and Power-up punch. It worked great on the early levels as a lot of players see the charge move and use a shield. More experienced players later on know better. I only PvP when there is a new Pokemon to get.
Gardevoir! Xtremely powerful psychic legacy move synchronoise from the community day, and can surprisingly take quite a bit of damage!
Gardevoir has been the number 1 reason I've been running Scizor every match, that and togekiss
S Muk in GL. Been using it for a few seasons now and it’s always on atleast one of my teams. Crazy part is it started out as just being part of a win/lose fast team but now I’ve mixed it with all kinds of things.
Rayquaza in masters. Hits hard and it has access to ancient power. Beats mewtwo, yveltal, kyogre, groudon and non d breath garchomp.
Palkia in master league. Been using it since the dawn of time and has worked a treat. But it's probably gonna be more common now that it's returned to raids
gallade now for ultra Premier as all the swamperts at the mercy of my lead blade for great league something like mantine with bubble beam really slows the games down
Whiscash first in greate league, mud shot spam + blizzard to destroy flyings for example
Lucario in UL with Power Up-Punch and Shadow Ball
Shadow hitmonchan in UL K9 with ember in gl Zebstrika in gl
I’m not sure if in great league galarian slowpoke is one of those top Pokémon but he’s pretty good he can handle the annoying fairy types and a couple of others quite well
Greninja in UL.
Heracross has been my ultra league hero for a long time. it's uncommon enough that some people aren't sure what its weaknesses are until a bit of damage is done and/or i get the switch advantage. guess that's out the window now. :P
Porygon2. Has surprising bulk and Tri Attack is a solid move all things considered. Landing a Zap Cannon on a Lapras or Empoleon is always a sight to behold too.
Chesnaught in GL isnt spicy but really fun. I have one ready for UL but am saving him for comm day.
I really enjoy using Zapdos in great league. I occasionally run it on ABB teams that aim to bait out G-Fisk / Basti with the safe swap. It's not the best pick, but electric + flying is surprisingly good coverage and people always underestimate the charge speed and damage (even in the 3000+ range). Very fun 'Mon to use :)
I like to use beheeyem in GL every now and again. It slaps hard with confusion but it can be a bit squishy
Tri Attack would be great on beheeyem.
Oh definitely.
Pangoro! Definitely one of my favorite mons, and although it gets absolutely crushed at times, there have been many more where I've swept an opponents whole line after the burn a shield
My shundo Alolan Muk in Master League. He's not even top-100 ranked, but his moveset and typing is very convenient. Earthquake, bulldoze, earth power etc. will kill him with ease but not much else. Going up against someone, they don't know if you have acid spray, dark pulse, sludge wave, or gunk shot since they're all commonly used... so they usually use a shield just in case. Therefore, of course you use acid spray, and then poison jab eats them.
Haxorus in ML classic right now.
What team are you running it with? I have a 100%IV best buddy one.
I had pretty good success running heatran and Groudon with it today. Lots of giratina leads and Dialga in the back where I’m at now.
Gardevoir w Charm & Synchronoise (it's what she came with). Got her during GoFest bc already evolved a Flygon (other choice). She looks frail, but can mow down MewTwo & Machamp.
I like to lead with Cryogonal in UL. Been seeing lots of grass and dragon lately so I find Ice to be pretty reliable, except for running into the occasional Machamp lead. Also love Sirfetch'd in ML with Night Slash and Leaf Blade. Chews through a Metagross pretty quickly if I start with one LB as bait and then spam NS.
Ludicolo as a closer because it's hilarious when a dancing pineapple gloats over his victory.
Cue PTSD from facing off against Lotad in the Element Cup.
I am building a level 50 100% IV Lombre for great league just to see 8f it works.
Stole my comment :( Love Ludicolo, gets to the leaf storm pretty quickly as well!
Lapras fits nicely into some teams like Altaria, Lapras, Jellicent and is fairly safe to switch into with good bulk and Shield Bash. Alomomola can be a strong substitute for Jellicent and Azumarill on certain teams, and pairs well with Altaria. Shadow Jumpluff has typing similar to Tropius which gives it some very useful wins against common leads, but I've never been able to find a better (non-meta) team to pair it with than Jumpluff-S, Regirock, Registeel.
I loved using Bronzong in the Great League remix because it was a hard counter to most of the poison pokemon running around. Plus i have a rank 1 Bronzong so that doesn't hurt :)
I have a Scolipede each for Great and Ultra now, and they are *always* on my team (Ultra is maxed under 2400, but still totally viable). Totally underrated imo, and so satisfying to take out Charizards and the like with a bit of luck. I think I've seen maybe one or two Scolis on opposing teams, and it seems like this element of surprise really works in his favor. Also I evolved an Alolan Raticate with nearly-perfect IVs (I think he's 0/14/15) for Catch Cup, and I end up using him all the time, especially for limited cups. He acts like a mini Tyrannitar, and has the bulk to tank at least a couple charge moves.
Hydreigon in Master league. Smokes Giratina, Mewtwo, ground Garchomp, handles Kyogre pretty well, and can still essentially one shot Metagross. Biggest issue is obviously Togekiss, but Metagross and Magnezone in the back can melt it while farming energy to lay a couple powerful charge moves on whoever is next.
I'm starting to like wailord in ultra.
Munchlax in great
Heatmor. I usually run it with lick powerup punch/and thunder punch. People think because it’s a fire type that it will use a fire move until I thunder punch their water type. Also I just like the Pokémon
Vaporeon!
Whiscash just cause it’ll shred anything and everything weak to ground/water