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New gen, new cores! Post cores you've had success with here, along with a short explanation of why they work well together and some suggestions for potential team mates that would compliment the core. Remember to post full importable sets for ease of editing into the OP, and for spreads that deviate from 252 / 252 / 4, please explain what the EVs do.
Good cores will be edited into the OP (I will be selective with what makes it, please avoid posting bad gimmicks) and hopefully we can piece together a good list for people to use as a reference. I'll split cores into Offensive, Defensive and Balanced / Miscellaneous categories. This is intended to be an ongoing and up to date list, so after the metagame settles, if you feel a core listed in the OP is no longer viable / worth listing, feel free to provide evidence of why you think this and it can be discussed between the community.
Everyones heard of this, Lele's Psychic Surge summons Psychic Terrain which boosts both of their STAB moves and takes away the fear of priority, which is absolutely huge since one of the biggest checks to DeoA was priority attacks. Knock Off DeoA helps with Jirachi and Aegislash, two mons that can typically switch into the duo. Scarf is also an option, but I really like LO since there are very few switch ins.
Extremely strong, no fear of priority, super good
252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Shield: 101-120 (31.1 - 37%) -- 72.2% chance to 3HKO
212 SpA Deoxys-Attack Psycho Boost vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Shield: 150-177 (46.2 - 54.6%) -- 9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
44 Atk Deoxys-Attack Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 170-200 (52.4 - 61.7%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 52.4% + 46.2% = 98.6%
44 Atk Deoxys-Attack Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 92+ Def Jirachi: 200-236 (49.5 - 58.4%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
Strong offensive core that also combines well with other cores in this thread, such as Lele+Deo-A or Lele+Metagross. Basic idea is that Lele removes traditional rain sweeper checks, while rain teams just have good match-ups in general against a lot of the current meta rn.
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Muddy Water
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
- Protect
Kingdra and Tapu Lele have great synergy and apply immediate offensive pressure in the early-game.
In ORAS Kingdra was held back by then-common threats like Prankster Thundurus t-waves and Amoonguss. The mere existence of Lele has caused a decline in those Kingdra checks, but actually having Lele on your rain team gives you a pretty ironclad defense against priority attacks/status moves and bulky grass types (which tend to have Poison as a secondary typing).
In rain, Kingdra outspeeds pretty much the entire unboosted metagame and hits hard with its rain-boosted Water STABs and Draco Meteor. Kingdra has favorable match ups against many of this meta's dominant mons, including Tapu Lele*, Charizard Y**, Salamence***, Landorus-T, and Tyranitar.
(*Tapu Lele can also kill Kingdra if it hits first, but a rain-boosted LO Hydro Pump from Kingdra has an 87.5% chance of OHKOing 4 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Lele. **In rain, obviously. ***Salamence + Rachi is a problem for Kingdra.)
Tapu Lele appreciates Kingdra's ability to wear down bulky steels like Jirachi, Aegislash and Heatran. In turn, Lele hits hard with Psychic spam and helps wear down the Grass-types, Water-types etc. that Kingdra struggles to hit. Lele can also force out Dragons so Kingdra doesn't have to waste a Draco Meteor on them.
When you combine rain-boosted Kingdra with scarfed Lele, you have two viable lead options that are almost always going to hit something hard and fast on turn one.
Pelipper is the obligatory rain setter that makes Kingdra viable. I prefer it to Politoed because of its phenomenal support movepool, which includes both Wide Guard and Tailwind.
None of the EVs are rocket science. Kingdra and Lele both hit hard and fast as possible with rain/scarf respectively. Pelipper is fully invested in HP and special bulk, since it already has great physical defense. You could probably mess with Pelippers speed EVs if you wanted to outspeed something fast under tailwind (with no investment, it outspeeds base 100s under tailwind).
Kingdra and Lele's movesets are pretty standard and self-explanatory. Feel free to alter Lele's to fit whatever coverage your team needs. Pelipper hits passably hard under rain with Hydro Pump, Tailwind offers speed control outside of rain, and Wide Guard is always nice to have.
Tapu Bulu and Heatran have amazing synergy. Heatran resists all of Bulu's weaknesses and also has an immunity to it's 4x weakness. Bulu in return resists all of heatran's weaknesses and weakens the power of eq aswell. Subtran is also another good set that works for Heatran.
Tapu Lele is arguably one of the best new mons to enter the meta this gen, spamming terrain boosted psychics which 2hko nearly any unresistant mon. Its choice scarf set allows it to act as both an leading threat and a late game cleaner. It can be a really difficult mon to deal with if your opponent doesn't have a consistent form of speed control or several good psychic resists on their own.
The main issue for Tapu Lele this gen is steel types which not only completely wall it, but deal significant damage in return, which is where Char-Y comes in. Arguably the best steel type check in the meta currently, Char-Y has the ability to prevent steel types from switching in on Lele for fear of getting hit with sun boosted heat waves. For Char-Y's third move, overheat allows it to better deal with wide guard users such as Cellesteela and Aegislash, while hidden power ground allows it to hit heatran, one of the biggest checks to this core if overheat is chosen as its third move.
Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Tailwind
- Protect
Jirachi @ Sitrus Berry / Safety Goggles
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Impish Nature
- Follow Me
- Iron Head
- Thunder Wave / Icy Wind
- Protect / Helping Hand
Mence + Rachi is a fantastic core thanks to Rachi's utility plus Mence's incredible power once it has gotten set up, which can easily happen thanks to Jirachi's steller typing which can take all of the types that can hit Mence super effective unless it is spread. Jirachi also provides a great Fairy check and Speed Control Support for Mence while Mence kills things with boosted Double Edge's and Returns.
Metagross-Mega @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
- Protect
Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Tailwind / Earth Power / Fire Blast
- Protect
Metagross-Mega does well against Megas (minus Charizard-Mega-Y) and Tapus, thus being a reliable mon to have around. In addition to Hydreigon's Tailwind, Metagross can also use Ice Punch to eliminate the recent popular mons, Mega Salamence and Landorus-T variants. To cover for where Metagross lacks, Hydreigon can be used, eliminating common resists such as Steel and Psychic-types. Otherwise, it can use Draco Meteor for a strong neutral damage.
This core is super fun to build around, and is the main core behind my current nomination for teambuilding competition (go vote for it)
The idea behind the core is that Tapu Bulu is countered super hard by flying and steel types. HP Ice Chicken happens to be probably the best mence bait on planet earth, and Overheat completely fries steel types except tran, who gets oneshot by supahpowah. The main pokemon Blaziken can't break are bulky waters, which naturally get completely shit on by Bulu, and the core generally is very good at punching holes in the opposition if you get some sort of upper hand in speed (either with control or with a few speed boosts), and it can be very deadly if played correctly
Important thing to note is that if you want to build around this core you need to remember to bring something for Lele + Psychic spam
This core is kinda similar to Lele + Deo-A as you just spam psychic attacks at stuff thats unresisted for a ton of damage. Metagross is pretty cool because under psychic terrain it can KO stuff like no bulk Charizard and Tapu Koko. The core is obviously weak to steel and ghost-types so mons like Lando-I, Hydreigon, Heatran and Volcanion work really well as partners.
btw, these three get dumpstered by sludge bomb lando i. Outside of that, bulu helps against eq and beats waters for the other two, heatran beats steels that wall bulu and diancie, and diancie sets tr and beats mence. Overall, a strong tr core offensively and defensively, it has access to strong spread but isn't weak to wide guard. As expected, the most vulnerable point is the turn of the TR set, you have to adequately support diancie with fake out etc.
So this is p much the archetypical sand core. You use ttar cuz you have to. You can use whatever spread you want tbh, i like this one: slower than aegislash and always tanks two flash cannons from full. Also, e-belt with 24 spatk guarantees the OHKO on mega mence (you can do it without the e belt, but you need a ton of investment) The excadrill spread isnt really too exciting. You can run drill run over earthquake if you feel like you might have trouble with celesteela or aegislash. Mence rounds this thing out offensively and defensively, giving you checks to bulky grasses (so just tapu bulu right now lol) and probably other stuff too. Note you really can use any mence set you want, I'm just using mixed cuz i like it.
So this core is pretty anti meta, being really strong against tapu lele + deo, as well as having a shit ton of speed via sand rush excadrill, outspeeds and ohkoes so much stuff this gen. Opposing weather matchup is great ofc, so no worries about that.
This core has problems with bulky steels (even if you're running fire blast mence like me) so have checks for those, especially celesteela, which walls both ttar and exca. You can run fire blast ttar, but the best you'll get against it is a 2hko. This core also hates lando t, which is why you see this core with milotic so often. Tapu bulu also work p well, but make sure you're using drill run on exca if you do that.
Obviously one of Gengar biggest weakness is ground which makes bulu a great partner.
On the other hand bulu is super strong but there are so many mon that have no problem switching into a wood hammer. So gengar being able to trap the good match ups is very beneficial.
There are several options for this bulu. I prefer sub. Other options are stone edge and taunt. Also many options for EVs and items
Obviously one of Gengar biggest weakness is ground which makes bulu a great partner.
On the other hand bulu is super strong but there are so many mon that have no problem switching into a wood hammer. So gengar being able to trap the good match ups is very beneficial.
There are several options for this bulu. I prefer sub. Other options are stone edge and taunt. Also many options for EVs and items
Why would you run sub and superpower on the same set? Also, the argument that gengar traps bulu's good matchups can be applied to literally any pokemon. Tbh, I dont think these two have any real synergy, and other cores with either mon are better, like gengar plus lando, or bulu plus heatran
Why would you run sub and superpower on the same set? Also, the argument that gengar traps bulu's good matchups can be applied to literally any pokemon. Tbh, I dont think these two have any real synergy, and other cores with either mon are better, like gengar plus lando, or bulu plus heatran
Obviously one of Gengar biggest weakness is ground which makes bulu a great partner.
On the other hand bulu is super strong but there are so many mon that have no problem switching into a wood hammer. So gengar being able to trap the good match ups is very beneficial.
There are several options for this bulu. I prefer sub. Other options are stone edge and taunt. Also many options for EVs and items
Have you considered horn leech > wood hammer on your bulu set? A recoil move like wood hammer seems odd on a set that's trying to regenerate hp - especially when horn leech is an option.
Nah left overs Grassy terrain is enough recovery so I don't need to scarfice the 120bp wood hammer. And super power hits thing like Ferro and other stuff that stone edge does not. Although I would run Stone edge if my tea needs it
Gonna post a core that I've been playing as an alternative to the Standard Tyranitar/Drill/Mence core. Sand-boosted Rock Slides are what it does best and it has the added benefit of Accelerock, as a priority move was something I always wished for in sand cores. I find this reacts better to Trick Room than Tyranitar as the best method of handling Trick Room is to build a slow mode into a team.
Lycanroc @ Rockium-Z
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Fire Fang/Crunch/Brick Break
- Accelerock
- Protect
Hippowdon @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Ice Fang/Roar
- Protect
Flex moves are decided on how you build the rest of the team and how slow or fast it is. Roar on Hippowdon is highly recommended if you do not want Trick Room to go up, but Ice Fang is a nice coverage move otherwise. Salamence's spread balances Hyper Voice damage with an effective Double-Edge. Fire Fang's damage leaves a bit to be desired in most cases, so I prefer to run Fire Blast on Salamence.
Gonna post a core that I've been playing as an alternative to the Standard Tyranitar/Drill/Mence core. Sand-boosted Rock Slides are what it does best and it has the added benefit of Accelerock, as a priority move was something I always wished for in sand cores. I find this reacts better to Trick Room than Tyranitar as the best method of handling Trick Room is to build a slow mode into a team.
Lycanroc @ Rockium-Z
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Fire Fang/Crunch/Brick Break
- Accelerock
- Protect
Hippowdon @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Ice Fang/Roar
- Protect
Flex moves are decided on how you build the rest of the team and how slow or fast it is. Roar on Hippowdon is highly recommended if you do not want Trick Room to go up, but Ice Fang is a nice coverage move otherwise. Salamence's spread balances Hyper Voice damage with an effective Double-Edge. Fire Fang's damage leaves a bit to be desired in most cases, so I prefer to run Fire Blast on Salamence.
Mence is definitely the preferred Mega to be sided with Sand, but you're doing something wrong when you're using Lycanroc. And I see nowhere in this link (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Sandstorm_(weather_condition) that Rock-type moves get boosted under Sandstorm unless it through an ability called Sand Force, which your Lycanroc does not have. And it's further ironic that a weather abuser has a priority move; my understanding is that fast mons don't need priority moves because it's already fast. (I think Deoxys-A was an exception in ORAS.) If you want Roar as your Trick Room counter, Tyranitar has it, too, but Taunt is definitely its better option. Furthermore, there is no reason to use Lycanroc over Excadrill since Excadrill brings greater damage output and counter Fairies (or more specific Tapus) for Salamence.
Nah left overs Grassy terrain is enough recovery so I don't need to scarfice the 120bp wood hammer. And super power hits thing like Ferro and other stuff that stone edge does not. Although I would run Stone edge if my tea needs it
People have every right to critically analyze cores in a thread where new and experienced players alike are going to be looking for inspiration. In this case, I'd say everyone's opinions are valid.
252+ Atk Tapu Bulu Superpower vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Muk-Alola: 182-215 (43.9 - 51.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
At best, you'll hit a high roll and bring Alolan Muk down below half HP. Then it eats its Figy Berry and is back up to 100%. Your Superpower just did zero to Muk, and now you've got a -1 Atk mon behind a sub.
Outside of sub, Bulu gets outsped and killed by both Heatran and Kyurem. And again, even if you are behind a sub and land a Superpower, you're now a -1 Atk mon behind a sub which is bad.
You're missing everyone's point. It's self-defeating to run a lefties + grassy terrain sub set if you lose all that recovery every time you want to use your STAB move.
252+ Atk Tapu Bulu Superpower vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Muk-Alola: 182-215 (43.9 - 51.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
At best, you'll hit a high roll and bring Alolan Muk down below half HP. Then it eats its Figy Berry and is back up to 100%. Your Superpower just did zero to Muk, and now you've got a -1 Atk mon behind a sub.
It was kinda weird having char y and venu in the art, but not actually in the thread, so i may as well write it up. Charizard provides sun to make venu fast with chlorophyll, and breaks steels for it. Venu takes on bulky waters for zard, and can sleep stuff.
Venusaur is used here over skymin because fast sleep is amazing, and it beats tapu koko with sludge bomb. It's also really fast under sun (my spread outruns max speed scarf genesect) and outspeeds and ohkoes scarf tapu lele. Life orb is used because you need it to OHKO tapu lele, and to 2hko all the common milotic and suicune spreads with giga drain.
GEN ONE EDIT: You can get the ohko on milo and suicune if you use leaf storm
The Charizard set isnt anything really exciting, you can use whatever char y you want here.
In general, I feel that people are less prepared for this core in this gen, with pretty much nothing running safety goggles and such. This core has trouble with sand, heatran, and dragons (pretty much only mega mence right now), so run things to cover that stuff. Lando T and Milotic both do great in that regard, def consider them as additional team mates if you use this core.