The Gallade Teambuilding Marathon: A Fast Gallade VGC Reg H Team

The Idea and an Ambition:

My initial ideas for whenever I teambuild is to pinpoint an idea or a Pokémon I deem overlooked or secretly the strongest. I usually don’t conform to the usage statistics but look at the most common archetypes or Pokémon being used in the format and look for what answers them best. Starting off with that intent I wanted to really try out Gallade.

Gallade to me is extremely powerful as it is the only Pokémon that can use a STAB sacred sword boosted with sharpness. This is worthy to look into as Archaludon with its setup through stamina ability and both Blood moon Ursaluna are the biggest players of this format. Moreover if we are to consider the coverage options gallade gets, having access to coverage like night slash allows it to get rid of Indeedee and gholdengo and leaf blade allowing it to take out Basculegion, Primarina and Palafin are useful tacts.

Gallade has been a part of the psyspam archetype, however I didn’t initially plan to use it as a trick room user on my team. Albeit I had to consider Indeedee as its partner in crime. With the ability to counter the ever present Mausape combination, setting up the psychic terrain to block all forms of priority in addition to boosting up Gallade’s psycho cut and providing helping hand support and redirection, the offer seemed too good to ignore.

For me, on this team the idea of using a Gallade outside of trick room is already something unique. The usual gallade teams of the format feature it in a purely hard trick room setting alongside Indeedee, Hatterene, Torkoal and Ursaluna rounding out with a Lilligant that can support these slow Pokémon with the After You move as well as extremely fast sleep powders, starting a bit left field makes me feel like I need to pair it with different partners than the hard trick room archetype.

Gallade and Indeedee’s dark and ghost coverage are covered by each other’s defensive and offensive pairing. Imminent threats I am noticing in the format is the sheer power of rain teams’ Basculegion, a defensive tera on Kingambit, Hydreigon which can outspeed even the speediest Gallade, Meowskarada, other than this the type weaknesses of my team include the flying weakness on Gallade.

In order to build an effective core and ultimately an effective team, I need to consider the types of teams I will be facing in this format and put in Pokemon that can help not only synergistically with each other’s types but also help build effective matchups.

It is important to consider all the available options. I learned this not only from what piques my own interest, but also something I have seen top players like Wolfe Glick and someone who I personally adore, a 3 time regional champion, Jamie Boyt that one should not be afraid of using the unusual Pokémon. Following is a note taking of my thoughts as I wanted to round out the team:

• Decidueye can help me beat Gholdengo which the + the rain core sweepers. Also helps me avoid Amoonguss shenanigans.
• On the more proven side, I can also go with meowskarada to achieve the same purpose, possibly better for the decidueye mix.
• Gastrodon can also take this slot.
• Maybe Scovillian with Kantonian Ninetales can work as well.
• The standard Blood moon Ursaluna and Whimsicott deal well with the Gholdengo problem well but rain still needs to be dealt with.
• Empoleon can help deal with this as well. Others like kingambit, dragapult can also put in work here.

Trying to keep it simple, I want to go for the Whimsicott + blood moon Ursaluna idea first and complete a fire water grass core next by adding a Gyarados. I want something that can dish more damage than options like Gastrodon all the while being able to deal with the rain mode’s barrage.

Lastly maybe something like a Magmar can help up the bulk for the team and provide an excellent answer into Amoonguss as well, but really why go for magmar and the type synergy, Electabuzz can help cover the electric weakness of Gyarados better and doesn’t add another glaring water type weakness to the team.

Now in Theory:

• The Electabuzz + Gyarados lead can be an excellent way to open against the traditional rain teams! But alternatively I can also go for the same with Indeedee + Gyarados lead, terastallize Indeedee to grass (which I was planning to do with Electabuzz either way) and then go for dragon dance setup on Gyarados) Electabuzz could be reconsidered here.
• Gallade + Indeedee counter lead Mausape and Typhlosion + Whimsicott already.
• Whimsicott’s moonblast greatly covers for Hydreigon’s dark type moves. Alternative ideas can be to use a Murkrow, a lot more of a direct answer into Dondozo teams and the dark type helps beat psyspam.
• Ursaluna + Whimsicott gives me a great goodstuffs lead to rely on in this initial conceptualization of the team.

The Other Ideas: Struggle Begins!

I now I am biased but I really went through the list of Pokémon I can use in place of Gyarados to counter the rain teams. Following were my options:

• Rotom Wash: offensively and defensive covers both Pelipper and Basculegion but falters against Archaludon setups.
• Dragapult: now I thought not only water types can help take the devastating water stab of such rain teams, instead of completing the fire/water/grass core, I can go for the fairy/dragon/steel core as well. It can outspeed a Basculegion under tailwind and resist the major hits, but yet again, the inability to deal with a stacked Archaludon is something that worries me on paper.
• Basculegion female: a water type, however it can help me in the very specific matchups. Unlike Dragapult, this pokemon can be used as a special attacker with ghost stab. Yes Dragapult has great special coverage but it lacks the offensive output that which a Basculegion can carry. This is because, while both having the same special attack stat, Basculegion gets the adaptability ability. With choice scarf I can insure that I outspeed all opposing Basculegion under tailwind and still allow myself to go for a clean OHKO.

Albeit Dragapult is the most ‘meta’ call to make, I think female Basculegion can have the edge over Dragapult. Especially knowing what I am trying to make this Pokémon do, I think I can make it work! For this team the flaws were:

• I was bringing both Indeedee and Whimsicott to the same games. I would often use trick room on my Indeedee to counter the opposing tailwind but my Pokémon would still end up on the losing side of the bargain given my Pokémon were middling speed tiers.
• There really wasn’t a defined type core for the overall team that facilitated defensive switching.
• I was relying on raw damage other than hit my opponents with a super effective advantage. One particular threat was Rillaboom, which I could hit for a lot of damage but there wasn’t any OHKO options or defensive walls to threaten its stay on the field, even Kingambit could be threatened by fake out and high horsepower.

However there are some strengths of the gallade and indeedee pairing that I considered as well

• With the trick room and imprison option indeedee could become a sole counter to all opposing trick room, this paired with wide guard on gallade means I can counter the expanding forces and ruptions present on said teams as well.
• Indeedee + gallade can directly counter the Typhlosion + Whimsicott lead via Wide guard and Follow me support for each other. Also the much more prevalent and ever green combination of counter into the notorious Mausape lead.
• Indeedee with Tera grass was able to counter Amoonguss’ spores Lilligant’s sleep powders. I quite liked having the chunky chips of damage psychic could deal however tera grass with rocky helmet didn’t feel like the final iteration for the team.

The Hopefuls:

One of the biggest downsides to the first iteration was lack of a defensive core or super effective coverage over the metagame. I felt like sticking to what I know and reconstruct from the Gallade and Indeedee pairing.

• Recognizing from testing that I could not rely on gallade for all my offense I needed another big damage dealer, the threat of Gholdengo and Rillaboom was over looming with the first team, and in the attempt to build a core I could go for Volcarona here.
• Volcarona would immediately pair well with Indeedee’s follow me allowing the moth to set up quiver dances and sweep, a fast pokemon that doesn’t need trick room to function. What’s better was with its tera grass typing and giga drain, it can serve as a rain counter too!
• Having a fire type on the squad meant the grass and water types were to follow. I still have 1 offensive counter to Gholdengo and Dondozo needs to be covered more than just having a sacred sword pokemon on my team. Meowskarada achieves both these goals with its speedy offense and grass dark type STAB coverage.
• To round out the core I went over the list of water type Pokémon and initially in theoricrafting settled on Aqua Breed Tauros. The reason for this was Its intimidate ability. Intimidate can beef up Volcarona’s defenses on the physical side as it sets up its special defenses with quiver dance.
• With the last Pokémon undecided and Dondozo being something I felt like I needed more answers for, I decided to backtrack a bit and think about using Primarina on the water type slot carrying the move haze whereas the last slot can be a supportive intimidate user.
• With the Primarina idea I felt stuck with Excadrill being a huge threat, with my team essentially having near nothing for it and with the aqua breed Tauros it was the threat of tera flying Tyranitar.
• I looked deeper into the Pokedex and in the theoricrafting session stuck with the Tauros variant of the team as I felt like I found the final piece to this grand puzzle, tera steel crit Hydreigon.
• Hydreigon filled in all the needed gaps. Extra defensive backing with the dragon type, an ability to deal with Dondozo, becoming essentially immune to the sand core with the tera steel typing and also becoming a solid wall against both forms of Ursaluna, this was it!

In testing iteration 2 of the team came up much more successful than iteration 1.

• I had a good mix of defensive and offensive synergy between the Volcarona/ Meowkarada/ Tauros core.
• Indeedee’s follow me paired well with Volcarona and Hydreigon to assist their setups.
• I intentionally chose the FWG core with little attention to their ability to counter Archaludon or Blood moon Ursaluna as I knew that was something Gallade can handle extremely well.
• I had multiple ways to approach an opponent’s team other than grind out with 1 mode per matchup.

Testing ofcourse didn’t confirm the team’s item or tera type choices and the following were my notes after playing around 20 games with this team:

• Gallade didn’t need the extra coverage of leaf blade especially as both volcarona and meowskarada carry grass type coverage. Moreover tera grass was also not necessary or optimal as the tera blast flying variant of Tyranitar already blasts through my team, I opted for tera psychic to further beef up my damage and drop the flying weakness, now opting for protect over coverage options as a defensive measure.
• Indeedee can run safety goggles and be much more of a threat to the Lillykoal and Amoonguss on field. Tera dragon allows it so that it doesn’t get caught by an after you + eruption from lillykoal. Tera dragon is also better than tera grass as it allows Indeedee to resist FWG damage, something extremely prevalent in the format.
• It would be better for me to change Volcarona’s tera type to dragon as well. This is because in case I have to tera it in front of the highly offensive pairing of Basculegion + Pelliper, then tera grass doesn’t save me from a Wave crash + Hurricane double up.
• With tauros I would almost always go for offense instead of using protect. I tested with the mirror herb item and it activated some times to good effect but I felt that I didn’t need to use that item to pick up the victory. I saw tauros as a defensive option with offensive coverage so I chose to go with assault vest and a tera stellar type to boost each coverage move. This allows me to hit the aforementioned behemoth of tera flying tyranitar with a super effective wild charge once it chooses to put the crystallized feather cap on.
• Hydreigon’s initial moveset had flash cannon however as soon as I recognized that how good it can be for countering Excadrill and noticing a lack of spread moves on  my team I opted for heat wave for coverage instead.

I usually don’t build EV spreads this early for a team but since I was building this team for the purpose of being used as a reference for my teambuilding guide, where before recognizing the struggle I decided to build something else. Here is where I reluctantly did build some EV spreads thinking these 6 were the ones.

Gallade: Outspeeds max speed positive nature Pelliper at 130 speed stat

Reference calc for the Archaludon bulk: this is what I am using because some people might invest defensively into their Archaludon to survive an opposing beat up boosted body press

+4 4 Def Archaludon Body Press vs. 252 HP / 116 Def Archaludon: 166-196 (84.2 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

This is the minimum investment my Gallade needs to OHKO such an Archaludon:

20+ Atk Life Orb Sharpness Gallade Sacred Sword vs. 252 HP / 116 Def Archaludon: 198-234 (100.5 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

20+ Atk Life Orb Sharpness Gallade Sacred Sword vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Ursaluna-Bloodmoon: 229-273 (104.5 - 124.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

-1 20+ Atk Life Orb Sharpness Gallade Sacred Sword vs. 228 HP / 188+ Def Incineroar: 148-174 (74.3 - 87.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Defensively:

252+ SpA Typhlosion Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gallade: 80-96 (55.9 - 67.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Not worried about the following as Indeedee can follow me:

252+ SpA Choice Specs Gholdengo Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gallade: 204-242 (142.6 - 169.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Most likely choice of a specs gholdengo is to go for this:

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera-Steel Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 208 HP / 52 SpD Gallade: 146-172 (86.3 - 101.7%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

Volcarona: Outspeeds max speed positive nature Glimmora at 152 speed.

EV spreads and running damage calculations can help you to solidify the matchup theory!

 

I think I need Tauros for this matchup:

-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Tera-Stellar Basculegion Wave Crash (1st Use) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tera-Dragon Volcarona in Rain: 142-168 (73.9 - 87.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

+

252+ SpA Pelipper Hurricane vs. +1 252 HP / 0 SpD Tera-Dragon Volcarona: 54-64 (28.1 - 33.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO double up is survived if i set up a quiver dance

252+ SpA Life Orb Ursaluna-Bloodmoon Blood Moon vs. 252 HP / 44 SpD Volcarona: 161-191 (83.8 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

252+ SpA Life Orb Tera-Normal Ursaluna-Bloodmoon Blood Moon vs. +1 252 HP / 44 SpD Volcarona: 146-172 (76 - 89.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

252+ SpA Life Orb Liquid Voice Primarina Hyper Voice vs. +1 252 HP / 44 SpD Volcarona: 101-120 (52.6 - 62.5%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

Offensively:

+1 60 SpA Volcarona Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Primarina: 102-120 (54.5 - 64.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Running calculations can help you Compare and contrast the effectiveness of a move!

Comparing the two options:

+1 60 SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 236 HP / 28 SpD Gholdengo: 192-228 (100 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+1 60 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 236 HP / 28 SpD Gholdengo: 218-258 (113.5 - 134.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

60 SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 236 HP / 28 SpD Gholdengo: 128-152 (66.6 - 79.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

60 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 236 HP / 28 SpD Gholdengo: 146-174 (76 - 90.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+1 60 SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Assault Vest Rillaboom: 140-168 (67.6 - 81.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

+1 60 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Assault Vest Rillaboom: 156-186 (75.3 - 89.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

I am settling for fiery dance as flamethrower does no technically score me a big KO.

Tauros: Outspeeds Max speed positive nature Glimmora at 152 speed stat.

Defensively:

252+ SpA Pelipper Hurricane vs. 68 HP / 68 SpD Assault Vest Tauros-Paldea-Aqua: 134-162 (84.2 - 101.8%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

Offensively:

116+ Atk Tera-Stellar Tauros-Paldea-Aqua Close Combat (1st Use) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Archaludon: 192-228 (97.4 - 115.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO

116+ Atk Tera-Stellar Tauros-Paldea-Aqua Wild Charge (1st Use) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tera-Flying Tyranitar: 100-120 (48.3 - 57.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage

116+ Atk Tera-Stellar Tauros-Paldea-Aqua Close Combat (1st Use) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Ursaluna-Bloodmoon: 204-244 (107.9 - 129.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

116+ Atk Tera-Stellar Tauros-Paldea-Aqua Raging Bull (1st Use) vs. 252 HP / 84 Def Volcarona: 224-268 (116.6 - 139.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Failed Tests:

I tested some more and things went south quick. In bo1 practice I was racking up wins, but I always seemed to falter in the bo3 side of the spectrum. I felt like I had to make multiple really good plays predicting my opponents but even then it would often come down to the final turns or I would lose due to some RNG that did not go my way.

Tauros’s aqua breed was the least brought pokemon and was simultaneously not really solving the problem. It felt a bit frail even with assault vest and intimidate. I tried to look for multiple other options that could help make my rain matchup better, however Gyarados was the only one I could reasonably test out; given that I had previously already built both Volcarona and Indeedee’s EV spread around the help I need from intimidate.

Gyarados definitely worked better than Tauros did. With the avalanche ice coverage (avalanche over ice fang due to 100% accuracy as Garchomp seemed to be a common theme I lost to and Gyarados was slow and bulky build) and icy wind coverage, Gyarados helped as intended. The team still felt clunky when I had played around 30-40 serious battles with this team:

• Indeedee’s concept of helping Gallade and Volcarona defensively worked well in theory and in practice, but it seemed to get in Meowskarada’s way. I often found myself protect stalling my own psychic terrain towards the ladder part of the game to be able to use sucker punch.
• The self-trick room plays worked really well for me, however the mons in the back, Volcarona, Meowskarada and Hydreigon were all a bit too fast once my opponent’s tailwind petered out.

The Third Iteration:

The initial idea of the team was running a fast gallade and the second iteration was the introduction of a FWG core in the mix. Looking some more into the dex, I found a Pokemon I absolutely despise the design of (sorry Delphox fans) a fast fire type that takes advantage of Indeedee’s psychic terrain both offensively and defensive, has a strong spread move and does not require initial setup to deal big damage… I can surely build around this guy. I knew how much I loved the idea of Hydreigon’s critting potential on the last team and did not want to change it around; then it was for me to find a new FWG core to test the team:

The answer was honestly quite easy here. Given the idea of the Gholdengo and Rain threat and I put Hisuian Decidueye into the teambuilder and for the final slot for the water type I went with a choice scarf storm drain Tatsugiri with the dragon cheer move as a gimmicky way to boost both Hydreigon and Decidueye. I brought it to a few practice games but it felt too lopsided and unreliable so I switched to Gastrodon as my rain and Archaludon matchup backup. This iteration solved, albeit more anti-meta solved the previous issues, Indeedee’s trick room can be taken advantage of by Decidueye as well and the sand core matchups seemed covered better under this regime. I was still not too confident in giving an anti meta team a thorough run, therefore going for a more standard version of the ‘fast Gallade’ idea next

Iteration 4: can’t beat em, then join em!

The practice I got from using the lead of Indeedee and Gallade made me realize a few things:

I am able to counter the most common trick room archetypes rather consistently between my own imprison and wide guard + keeping up with smart offense. I can use this knowledge to build my own trick room team, using the metastuffs; I can use a semi fast Gallade + Indeedee but supplement with the well established partners of Indeedee and Gallade.

I quickly put the standard Hatterene, Torkoal, Hisuian-Lilligant and Ursaluna in the back and went to testing. Good thing about this team is that the games take less time due to both trick room and hyper offensive nature, I got in some really good practice games within the span of 2 hours.

I essentially had walked backwards towards a really standard archetype however now much more informed for what I could do with it and how each element functioned. This was all due to my failed tests. And I think teambuilding works increase your skill in this strange way of its own.

Now I can notice the premier threats for Gallade and Indeedee were Kingambit, Gholdengo and the Rain mode. Torkoal works excellently in countering these three. Lilligant compliments Torkoal really well, whereas Hatterene can take great advantage of the psychic terrain. Lastly the combination of the fire + ground type offense which covers types across the board; can be built by the beastly Ursaluna. Now setting up trick room with my Indeedee definitely won’t backfire mid or late game. The trick room mode being anti Amoonguss also works in my favor Ursaluna and Hatterene are immune to spore, Gallade’s grass type counters that as well and Torkoal outspeeds in trick room and OHKO’s Amoonguss or at least forces it to defensively tera.

The Last Dance:

At this point I had skipped on this team’s initial concept and focused on the write-up of my teambuilding guide for which I had built a Gholdengo team. in regards to regulation H and my teambuilding in Gen 9 I have been very focused on putting a solid type core into my team, this is something I did not put in the Gholdengo Dondozo team and it felt complete because instead of the types covering for each other, the Pokemon countered each other’s checks.

I was quite non serious when considering a Delphox variant but felt as if it could patch up the weaknesses of the previous squad. If a Gholdengo counter was the one thing I needed on my fast Gallade team, then delphox’s fire type stab covers for it well and it can take great advantage of the psychic terrain really well unlike Volcarona. Exploring other options and me still being adamant on my FWG core idea, I went with Hisuian Decidueye and Gastrodon to mainly improve my weather outcomes and last was hydreigon. It sort of worked, then I dropped it again, and went with completely wild tests including the use of Exeggutor and Kantonian Ninetales for a weather mode of my own for this team.

After the gholdengo team I came back to the idea and picked up the ideas that worked. I theory crafted a tons on pen and paper, X covers Y and such, I noticed on paper that if I have Indeedee, Gallade and Delphox on the team, Kingambit, Rillaboom, Sand and Rain were the things I needed to cover. I realized how much of a stronghold Gastrodon has on paper vs rain so why not keep it as is! To counter sand I went with an iron defense + body press Corviknight as it also covers defensively for Gholdengo’s steel type STAB. Lastly I chose Sneasler, this was quite a surprise pick for me, but the coverage it provides lets me have a perfect offensive answer into the Volcarona balance archetype. Of course Sneasler only takes more advantage of the fact that Indeedee gets brought to every game. Sneasler with the set I chose can provide additional answers into sand, rain, Rillaboom and Kingambit, something too good to give up!

Corviknight did not prove itself big in testing, and Dondozo was a matchup I lost to therefore switching back to the tera steel Hydreigon which was initially my answer into sand and Dondozo. Hydreigon patched up excellently everything that I needed to round out the team! with Hydreigon I now have a Psychic, Dark and Fighting type trio core

All the different teams I tested for the idea

The Final Team:

Slicen'Dice (Gallade) (M) @ Clear Amulet  Ability: Sharpness  Level: 50  Tera Type: Psychic  EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe  Adamant Nature  - Psycho Cut  - Sacred Sword  - Wide Guard  - Protect

Gallade is best left simple, with clear amulet it gets great answers into Incineroar, something the other parts of my psyspam core don’t deal well with. It also takes out the other most used Pokémon of the format: Archaludon, Ursaluna and Kingambit out clean in 1 hit. Taking advantage of the psychic terrain and tera psychic, Gallade ups its offense and defense by dropping the fairy and flying weaknesses and boosting psycho cut damage.

Serving! (Indeedee-F) @ Safety Goggles  Ability: Psychic Surge  Level: 50  Tera Type: Fairy  EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD  Bold Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Dazzling Gleam  - Follow Me  - Trick Room  - Imprison

Indeedee puts in the most work in this iteration of the team over many that preceded it! This time I switched to tera fairy to block out Kingambit, then using dazzling gleam to take advantage of this fairy typing and then the slots of trick room and imprison help provide me a consistent answer into opposing trick room. Trick room here is a surprise speed control move for my own team as well as Hydreigon and Gastrodon take the speed advantage against faster parts of the metagame and also helps turn the tide back to me in tailwind matchups.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera-Steel Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 252 HP / 4+ SpD Indeedee-F: 148-176 (83.6 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 44 Atk Incineroar Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Indeedee-F: 134-158 (75.7 - 89.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Tyranitar Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Indeedee-F: 192-228 (108.4 - 128.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

DesperateTimesFox (Delphox) @ Focus Sash  Ability: Blaze  Level: 50  Tera Type: Psychic  EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 244 Spe  Timid Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Expanding Force  - Flamethrower  - Nasty Plot  - Protect

Delphox is my most hated started pokemon given the missed opportunity solely on its looks. I would call it the iron crown on budget because just like the previous regulations’ most threatening pokemon in Fluttermane with its secondary steel STAB, Delphox covers for the Gholdengo in this format. Timid nature helps it outspeed Garchomps where focus sash creates space for longevity. When people stall or readjust to avoid a clean expanding force sweep, you can use this time to set up a nasty plot and hit back 2x as hard!

252+ SpA Delphox Expanding Force (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp in Psychic Terrain: 112-133 (61.2 - 72.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252 SpA Delphox Expanding Force (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp in Psychic Terrain: 103-123 (56.2 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ SpA Tera-Psychic Delphox Expanding Force (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp in Psychic Terrain: 150-178 (81.9 - 97.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO Timid gets the same job done but outspeeds Garchomp, so going for timid: +2 252 SpA Delphox Expanding Force (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp in Psychic Terrain: 205-243 (112 - 132.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ Atk Black Glasses Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Delphox: 258-306 (172 - 204%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252 SpA Tera-Psychic Delphox Expanding Force (120 BP) vs. 236 HP / 116 SpD Amoonguss in Psychic Terrain: 256-304 (116.8 - 138.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

The Final Boss (Gastrodon) @ Rocky Helmet  Ability: Storm Drain  Level: 50  Tera Type: Grass  EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 220 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe  Modest Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Earth Power   - Ice Beam  - Icy Wind  - Clear Smog

Gastrodon does its job really well. Its mainly here to be a main answer to both sand and rain cores. It takes out he main sweepers of Excadrill and Garchomp clean, Basculegion cannot use water stab when its placed on the field and rocky helmet adds to the chip damage moving the scale in my favor when it comes to getting things in KO range.

140+ SpA Gastrodon Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 184-220 (100.5 - 120.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO 140+ SpA Gastrodon Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 68 SpD Assault Vest Archaludon: 104-126 (52.7 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 220+ SpA Gastrodon Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Excadrill: 186-218 (100.5 - 117.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO Going for the higher spa as this + rocky helmet takes out excadrill 252 Atk Excadrill High Horsepower vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gastrodon: 114-135 (52.2 - 61.9%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO +2 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 28 Def Gastrodon: 168-198 (77 - 90.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO so i survive + OHKO back with ice beam.

 

Awkward Wolverine (Sneasler) @ Psychic Seed  Ability: Unburden  Level: 50  Tera Type: Stellar  EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 220 Spe  Adamant Nature  - Rock Slide  - Close Combat  - Dire Claw  - Throat Chop

 

Sneasler’s moveset might feel weird but with its speed and added bulk from the psychic seed + priority protection via psychic terrain, I can go for immediate damage. The rock slide helps me deal with Volcarona balance really well as it is paired with Clefable in most of its viable compositions. Throat chop provides me with a super effective option into the ghost and psychic types of the format and stop any parting shot or other off meta perish song setups. Dire claw and close combat are agreed upon best stabs for this pokemon. The tera stellar is a perfect fit on this pokemon allowing me to get a boost per each slot and also a reasonable damage boost that can be used to pick up OHKOs.

252+ SpA Pelipper Hurricane vs. +1 20 HP / 12 SpD Sneasler: 132-156 (83.5 - 98.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 164+ SpA Tera-Fairy Archaludon Draco Meteor vs. 20 HP / 12 SpD Tera-Stellar Sneasler: 132-156 (83.5 - 98.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO   Offensively: 252+ Atk Sneasler Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 60 Def Volcarona: 180-216 (93.7 - 112.5%) -- 75% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Sneasler Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Archaludon: 180-212 (91.3 - 107.6%) -- 50% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Sneasler Dire Claw vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Clefable: 146-174 (72.2 - 86.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Sneasler Dire Claw vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 164-194 (79.2 - 93.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery -1 252+ Atk Sneasler Close Combat vs. 236 HP / 20 Def Incineroar: 162-192 (81 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery 252+ Atk Sneasler Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Indeedee-F: 106-126 (59.8 - 71.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Throat Chop (1st Use) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Gholdengo: 128-152 (78.5 - 93.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO   252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Dire Claw (1st Use) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tera-Fairy Archaludon: 160-192 (81.2 - 97.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Close Combat (1st Use) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Archaludon: 240-284 (121.8 - 144.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Dire Claw (1st Use) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Clefable: 196-232 (97 - 114.8%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Dire Claw (1st Use) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 220-260 (106.2 - 125.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO -1 252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Close Combat (1st Use) vs. 236 HP / 20 Def Incineroar: 216-256 (108 - 128%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Close Combat (1st Use) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Indeedee-F: 142-168 (80.2 - 94.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Close Combat (1st Use) vs. 108 HP / 44 Def Farigiraf: 190-224 (90.9 - 107.1%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Throat Chop (1st Use) vs. 236 HP / 44 Def Gholdengo: 122-144 (63.5 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Throat Chop (1st Use) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Basculegion: 170-202 (87.1 - 103.5%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO

 

Crit-Machinegon (Hydreigon) @ Scope Lens  Ability: Levitate  Level: 50  Tera Type: Steel  EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 180 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe  Modest Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Draco Meteor  - Heat Wave  - Focus Energy  - Protect

Hydreigon is super good and in my opinion quite underrated for the current metagame. Tera steel with levitate allows it to be essentially immune to Excadrill and Ursaluna of the metagame. Gholdengo and Dondozo have to choose moves carefully whether to predict a Tera or not when targeting a Hydreigon with this tera type.

180+ SpA Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 4 HP / 172 SpD Dondozo on a critical hit: 190-225 (84 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery +2 100+ Atk Dondozo Wave Crash vs. 252 HP / 60 Def Tera-Steel Hydreigon: 168-198 (84.4 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO +1 252+ Atk Dondozo Wave Crash vs. 252 HP / 60 Def Tera-Steel Hydreigon: 144-169 (72.3 - 84.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO +2 252+ Atk Dondozo Order Up vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Hydreigon: 170-200 (85.4 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO 180+ SpA Hydreigon Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Excadrill on a critical hit: 174-206 (94 - 111.3%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO 80+ SpA Hydreigon Heat Wave vs. 4 HP / 172 SpD Tera-Grass Dondozo on a critical hit: 138-164 (61 - 72.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

The Team’s pokepaste: Fast Gallade Finalized (pokepast.es)

For me this is the team that I poured the most time and effort into in a while. I did not expect to fall flat on my face this hard every time I thought I got the grip of it. All is well if it ends well, and I am taking the lesson of thinking more in terms of what needs to be countered specific to the metagame instead of sticking to hardy type synergy formulas to make things work. This was it from my end! Bye for now!