Project Pokémon Matchmaking (SM Edition) - Current round: Hawlucha (SUBMITTING TAPUS IS BANNED)

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Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
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Approved by bludz
OP stolen from ORAS edition
Looking for banner; if you want to make one PM me either on here or on Discord (I'll be in the OverUsed channel as Martin#6387)


co-hosted with Leo
Pokémon Matchmaking
All Pokemon are unable to function completely independently; this is where teammates come in. Teammates assist one another in achieving goals that a Pokemon may have in mind--whether that be sweeping or walling, there are effective teammates for every Pokemon.

This project aims to find the best partners for a variety of Pokemon. These may range from metagame defining Pokemon to more underrated threats.

Procedure
Every week, a Pokemon will be nominated for discussion: the goal being to find the best, and most effective partners for the nominated Pokemon. During that week, everyone will have the chance to submit one Pokemon that they feel supports the nominated Pokemon best. At the end of that week, the three best partners will be decided by myself and added to the archive. Users that consistently provide archive-worthy nominations will be placed in the Hall of Fame.

Rules
1. Stick to Pokemon on the OU Viability Rankings. Pokemon such as Politoed and Ninjask, which are not ranked, should not be nominated.
2. Reservations are allowed. If you have not posted your reserved Pokemon after 24 hours, other users may nominate the Pokemon you had reserved and may complete it themselves.
3. Please include a set for your submission; don't submit a Pokemon if you aren't even going to give me any other information about what it is you are submitting.
4. Don't theorymon. Post Pokemon that you have had experience with.
5. Explain how and why the Pokemon you have nominated works well. For example, do the two Pokemon have offensive synergy (with respect to being able to wear down similar checks and counters) or defensive synergy (with respect to being able to wall a portion of the metagame due to typing, or role fulfilment)?
6. Be considerate of others when posting, and only post when necessary; try not to post one-liners.
7. Calcs and replays are nice, but not compulsory.

If you want sprites, take the following BBCode and replace "pokemon" with the name of the Pokémon you are using. Don't be put off by the "xy" in the URL, as all the SM sprites are listed under XY. Additionally, the Island Guardians are written without spaces in their names (tapukoko, tapufini, tapulele, tapubulu), whereas X/Y megas have their form listed as one word (charizard-megax, charizard-megay).
Code:
[IMG]https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/xyani/pokemon.gif[/IMG]
 
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Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Archive
The very best posts in the thread are archived here. Any instances of any hosts appearing in the archive are only after a very harsh judgement from the other co-host, irrespective of the opinion of the poster who is being archived, so as to minimise the impact of bias in the archiving system. In addition, we have tried our best to take the metagame at the time the post was made into account when retroactively reviewing posts and deciding which ones to archive when making the initial list. We have prioritised post quality over choice of Pokemon, although the latter has not been removed to any major degree.

Flyinium-Z Salamence Partner: Magearna by Recreant
Mamoswine Partner: Magnezone by Colonel M
Mamoswine Partner: Zapdos by HotFuzzBall
Mamoswine Partner: Landorus-T by Martin
Focus Sash Dugtrio Partner: Celesteela by Colonel M
Alomomola Partner: Heatran by Martin
Quiver Dance Pheromosa Partner: Ash Greninja by Futatsuiwa of Sado
Defog Mega Scizor Partner: Toxapex by Martin
Choice Band Zygarde Partner: Volcarona by Futatsuiwa of Sado
Alolan Ninetales Partner: Mega Tyranitar by Martin
Focus Sash Greninja Partner: Zygarde by Nuxl
Life Orb Kyurem-B Partner: Mega Scizor by Riddikulusness
Life Orb Kyurem-B Partner: Tapu Koko by Martin
Life Orb Kyurem-B Partner: Mew by Leo
Standard Spikes Ferrothorn Partner: Mega Charizard X[url] by Martin
[url=http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/3593435/page-10#post-7533520]Standard Spikes Ferrothorn Partner: Ash Greninja by DeathByWobbuffet[/url]
 
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pancake

movement and location
is a Contributor Alumnus


Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt

Yeah pretty much any Mag set is a really good partner for Flymence. The goal is to spam outrage late-game with mence after setting up a DD and nuking something with skystrike. Many of the things that can stop this, i.e. Magearna, Defensive Jirachi, can be weakened with Specs Zone. It also gets a free switch on the Fairy-types that are stops to Mence, such as Tapu Fini/Koko. Finally it can get mence in with a slow Volt Switch.
 

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Aura Sphere

Magearna + Z-Fly Salamence is pretty neat stuff. Thanks to Fly, Salamence can take care of bulky Grass-types, especially Mega Venusaur and Tangrowth, for Magearna while severely weakening Toxapex and Ferrothorn. Earthquake also surprises and weakens / KOs Heatran, Jirachi, and Alola Marowak. In return, Magearna Flash Cannons away and defensive Fairy-types, mainly Unaware Clefable, while providing a slow Volt Switch to allow Salamence to switch in easier. It also just kinda nukes things like Rotom-W and Landorus-T in general so Salamence can have an easier time sweeping.
 

Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 196 HP / 200 Atk / 12 SpD / 100 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Leech Life
- Earthquake / Poison Jab

SubPunch Buzzwole allows you to dent bulky Pokemon like Celesteela, Skarmory and Landorus-T which allows Salamence the opportunity to clean up later. It can also help to take on Weavile and Mamoswine which checks Salamence with Ice Shard. Special Attackers like Keldeo, Mega Charizard-Y and Manaphy which threatens Buzzwole are also set-up bait for Salamence so you can take advantage of that. The EVs listed here allows you to prevent Chansey's Seismic Toss and Toxapex's Scald from breaking your Substitute while 100 Spe is used to outpace Def Lando-T.
 
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HotFuzzBall

fuzzy-chan \(ㆁヮㆁ✿)
is an Artist
reserving tapu fini


Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 16 SpD / 52 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Nature's Madness / Defog

While Salamence won't be able to receive the much appreciated benefit from Misty Terrain, Tapu Fini can still function as a great defensive partner for Z-Fly Salamence. Due to Misty Terrain, Tapu Fini can switch into any potential Scalds/T-Waves aimed towards Salamence. Tapu Fini's typing allows it to sponge Dragon and Ice moves also aimed towards Salamence. The combination of Taunt and Nature's Madness can put pressure on defensive mons such as Celesteela, Toxapex, Landorus-T and Skarmory that can tank a SSSS while the Flying-types are threatened by Scald. Lastly, Tapu Fini can provide the crucial Defog support for Salamence if your team lacks hazard removal.

edit- Salamence can also check Grass-types that hamper Tapu Fini as well.
 
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Ash Borer

I've heard they're short of room in hell

Latios@Life Orb
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid
- Draco Meteor
- Thundah
- Psyshock
- Defog

3 Attack + Defog Latios is a decent pivot for various water, grass, and fire attacks, as well it can remove hazards. With Thunder, Latios is also capable of drawing in and crushing Celesteela, one of Salamence's only counters. After its done luring, it can Defog and suicide with its life orb, leaving a clear path to clean house.
 

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 SpD
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Rotom-W is a classic pivot that checks a number of threats that trouble Salamence, mostly Steel types. Notably it's a very solid answer to defensive variants of Celesteela as it can usually just burn it at its leisure. Skarmory doesn't fare much better. It can check many variants of Landorus-T, especially the defensive set which can hinder Salamence's sweep. It generally checks Weavile and Mamoswine who can revenge kill Salamence with Ice Shard. It can also serve as a very soft check to Mega Metagross, who can live +1 Earthquake from Salamence. Rotom-W lures in Grass types like Venusaur, Amoonguss, and Tangrowth, and can Volt Switch out to Salamence who can use them as setup fodder, although it can have a little trouble with Ferrothorn. Lastly, Rotom-W can check some of the Scarfers that try to revenge kill a boosted Salamence, mostly Garchomp or Keldeo.

BTW the spread in the set is EV'd to always live two Outrages from Scarfed Garchomp, who will often try to revenge Salamence. With more Special Defense investment you can handle special Scarfers like Nihilego better.
 

Xayah

San Bwanna
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Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 60 Def / 124 SpD / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn

I haven't played too much SM OU, but ScizorChomp is a core I ran a lot in ORAS OU and ScizorMence is something I used a ton in mixed tier. The two have incredible defensive synergy, with Mence resisting Fire for Scizor, while Scizor resists Fairy- and Dragon and takes on Rock-types for Mence. Thanks to U-turn, Scizor can also potentially bring Mence in on a free switch, allowing for a potential set up opportunity. Typewise, these two simply have incredible synergy and really should be paired together.
 

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 SpD
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz

Mega Charizard X is a pretty fresh partner for Flymence considering Zard sets up on literally everything that has a chance in stopping Salamence. Think Skarmory, Celesteela, bulkier variants of Magearna, even Tapu Koko. These are just a few of the many examples Zard completely stomps so Salamence can come in and clean up what's left, which it's very good at due to Moxie.

Be warned though, they both have similar stops as well such as Haze and Quagsire (which happens to be nonexistent right now and Aero is pretty rare, but still). Be sure to pack a Defogger such as Tapu Fini as it's great for pressuring Toxapex and Quagsire with Taunt + Nature's Madness while provided necessary hazard removal.
 
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I'm surprised none has posted this yet :o



Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt

Best shiny ever! The goal of this is to clear the terrains so Salamence can use Outrage and Earthquake at full power. It shields Salamence's teammates from priority moves like Ice Shard, good for a speed boosting sweeper. Since this thing is only checked by steel types it's inevitable that you will either get a kill or weaken a steel type which Salamence is gonna take advantage of. I like Thunderbolt because Celesteela is such a bitch but if you run Magnezone you would probably prefer to use another coverage instead. Running the Timid nature to outspeed Jolly Landorus-T and tying with opposing Tapu Lele so i don't stack a weakness to those :X

Edit: my mistake: Salamence is not protected by priority because it is a flying type. Thanks for noticing Omicron.
 
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I'm surprised none has posted this yet :o



Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt

Best shiny ever! The goal of this is to clear the terrains so Salamence can use Outrage and Earthquake at full power. It shields Salamence from priority moves like Ice Shard, good for a speed boosting sweeper. Since this thing is only checked by steel types it's inevitable that you will either get a kill or weaken a steel type which Salamence is gonna take advantage of. I like Thunderbolt because Celesteela is such a bitch but if you run Magnezone you would probably prefer to use another coverage instead. Running the Timid nature to outspeed Jolly Landorus-T and tying with opposing Tapu Lele so i don't stack a weakness to those :X
Quick note, Salamence does not benefit from Psychic Terrain due to it being a Flying-type. Therefore it is still susceptible to priority. I would also run Psychic over Thunderbolt due to the sheer power of it, as it hits most targets harder than Psyshock bar specially defensive walls like Chansey. Choiced Electric-type moves are a bad idea with Dugtrio running around.
 
Dragonite @ Choice Band
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed

Dragon spam, maybe? CBnite lures and softens threats for Salamence, adding a lot of offensive pressure to common defensive answears and threatening revenge killers with ES. CBnite may also work as a second win con for Salamence.

As a side note, a gimmicky special set with Fblast, bolt-beam and draco meteor/hurricane could severly damage Salamence checks.
 

Phantom Me

Banned deucer.

Hoopa-Unbound @ Choice Band
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hyperspace Fury
- Drain Punch
- Gunk Shot
- Zen Headbutt

Hoopa-U is an excellent partner for Salamence as it gives early game momentum. It punctures holes in the opponent's defenses for Salamence to exploit. Band Hoopa is chosen due to its wallbreaking prowess. Salamence is extremely annoyed by Protect as it ruins the plan of a KO by Z-move or Outrage. Hyperspace Fury thus helps, it also helps against Slowbrow as it can stop Salamence's sweep. Salamence is annoyed by fairy types, so Gunk shot was added as it can 0hko Tapu Fini, Tapu Bulu, and Clefable. Fire Punch kills Mega Scizor and Skarmory as they prevent the use of Outrage.
 
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Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Winners:
by pancake
by Recreant
by Random Passerby

If you want reasoning why I picked/didn't pick something, feel free to PM me and I'll respond as best I can.
========================
Week 2: Mamoswine


Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 244 Atk / 12 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly / Naive / Adamant / Naughty Nature
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Superpower / Knock Off / Freeze-Dry

Submissions close next Saturday. Best of luck!

Edit: also if you're having difficulty finding sprites I've added some BBCode into the OP for you to use.
 
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Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
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Magnezone @ Air Balloon
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
- Magnet Rise
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt

Magnezone and Mamoswine work out fairly well. One of Mamoswine's problematic Pokemon involve some of the Steel-types. These in particular include Skarmory and Mega Metagross. This set works well with Knock Off Mamoswine. Mamoswine's goal should be to lure out Skarmory to Knock Off its Shed Shell. Afterwards, Skarmory should be much easier to trap and kill off - or worst case scenario is under a lot of pressure.

This particular Magnezone's goal is to trap Mega Metagross and put major pressure onto it. With Balloon and Magnet Rise Magnezone should be able to take on every Earthquake Mega Metagross one-on-one without too much trouble. There are scenarios where some Mega Metagross will run Hammer Arm sadly, but no Magnezone can perfectly counter both variants. This also helps trap other problematic Steel-types for Mamoswine such as Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, and Celesteela - thus allowing more freedom to spam its STABs against the opposing team.
 
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pancake

movement and location
is a Contributor Alumnus


Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- U-turn

As for "Ground resists" most people are preparing for SD/DD Landorus-T because it is one of if not the most threatening Pokemon in the metagame right now. As a result most of these "switchins" to Landorus-T get hit hard by Mamoswine's Ice STAB. Many of these switches are also pressured a ton by Specs Hydro / Dark Pulse, such as Defensive Tangrowth (Rockium Z Lando) and PhysDef Skarmory. Ash-Greninja also has U-turn to get Mamoswine in safely so it can click EQ.
 
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Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Dazzling Gleam

Tapu Koko being one of the good pivots for mamoswince because stuff like lando and other ground types want to come into it, koko clicks u-turn and pivots out into mamoswine being able to kill lando-t and other ground types. koko might click hp ice when a ground type comes into it predicting a thunderbolt and doing damage to 2hko.
 
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Thunder Punch

Mega Charizard-X sets up on Pokemon that likes to come in on Mamoswine like Celesteela and Skarmory. Mamoswine helps to scare away Garchomp and Lando-T while Charizard can 1 v 1 Buzzwole. Thunder Punch is a nice option to lure and KO Tapu Fini, which is annoying for both Mamoswine and Charizard.
 
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HotFuzzBall

fuzzy-chan \(ㆁヮㆁ✿)
is an Artist
reserving zapdos


Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Discharge / Volt Switch
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Defog

Zapdos functions as a pretty nice defensive partner for Wallbreaker Mamoswine. Zapdos can put a lot of pressure on bulky Water-types such as Mantine and Rotom-W while also being able to absorb potential Scalds since Zapdos doesn't mind burns too much. Zapdos also deals with bulkier Steel-types (and the ones immune to Ground) such as Celesteela, Ferrothorn and Skarmory as well as Fighting-types such as Buzzwole. Zapdos also can afford to switch into Mamoswine's checks a bit more often due to having good bulk and reliable recovery as well. Mamoswine also checks Electric and Rock-types while also applying pressure on bulkier foes such as Clefable and Chansey with its wall breaking capabilities.
 
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Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Activity has been slow this week so I'm gonna give it a bit of a kick and submit something of my own (I won't be able to win for obvious reasons, but it's fun to contribute anyway)


Landorus-Therian @ Rockium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
- Stealth Rock

Offensive Landorus-T aims to overwhelm certain checks to Mamoswine such as Skarmory, Rotom-W etc, allowing for it to act as a good ground-spam partner for Mamoswine, and with Rockium-Z it is capable of nailing one of these in a game. It also provides Stealth Rock, which is necessary support for Mamoswine. In exchange, Mamoswine helps with things like Tangrowth and Rotom-W (if it has Freeze Dry) so that if you bust your Rockium on something else you can still put pressure onto them nice af, and beyond this having EQ switch-ins dealing w/ two mons is a cool thing in general.
 
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Reserving garchomp

Garchomp @ Firium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang

A very effective lure to things mamo can't 2hko. Swords dance garchomp is extremely deadly as always. Firium fire fang is to guarantee that you take out skarmory, celesteela, ferro ect. Chomp also overpowers walls like fini. You can use dragon claw over outrage but the power dip is noticeable. Outrage stops when you hit a fairy anyway so it's fairly safe.
 
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jpw234

Catastrophic Event Specialist

Heatran @ Grassium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Solar Beam
- Earth Power
- Taunt

Bloom Doom Tran kills Steels that Mamo has trouble with and also lures the bulky waters he has a difficult time breaking through. Tweak set at your leisure but Magma/Grassium do the work Mamo needs.
 
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