VGC Rate my Solgaleo + Spectrier Team

[VeryToxic]

Hi all! As this is my first post and somewhat new to competitive VGC, I’d appreciate any feedback on my team. I’ve been watching VGC for a while now, so a tried my hand at creating a team centred around Solgaleo:

Solgaleo @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Full Metal Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

Solgaleo is the centrepiece of the entire team. I wanted to build a team around it because of its Full Metal Body Ability. This along with its typing reminded me of a faster, slightly less bulky Metagross. Its high attack stat and immunity from stat drops can make it a very unexpected Pokemon to face. Intimidate users cannot affect Solgaleo, meaning the majority of the meta (i.e. Incineroar, Landorus-T) are unable to counter it.

Spectrier @ Focus Sash
Ability: Grim Neigh
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Bulldoze
- Snarl

Spectrier is Solgaleo’s partner in crime. The main use of it is to use Bulldoze. In many situations Bulldoze + Solgaleo can abuse Solgaleo’s ability. It activates Solgaleo’s Weakness Policy without dropping its speed, but drops the speed of the opposing mons. Snarl and Will-O-Wisp provide support against both physical and special attackers.

Incineroar @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Fake Out
- Parting Shot
- Flare Blitz
- Darkest Lariat

This wouldn’t be a VGC team without an intimidate user. I felt that Incineroar would be better than Landorus-T as it provided better sport with Parting Shot and Fake Out. Parting Shot allows a much safer switch to Spectrier of Solgaleo than dry switching. I decided to build it bulkier than a fast sweeper so it would be able to switch in without fear of being too heavily damaged.

Amoonguss @ Coba Berry
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 116 Def / 156 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Clear Smog
- Rage Powder
- Pollen Puff
- Spore

I originally had Tapu Fini with Heal Pulse, but I felt Amoonguss was a better fit. Spore + Rage Powder can completely counter some teams while its relatively low speed means that it can fight against Trick Room teams. It can be very situation though, especially if there is no safe switch in or your Dynamax mon dies while in combat. It excels at pure support with little to no knockout pressure.

Grimmsnarl (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 124 Def / 116 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Thunder Wave
- Spirit Break

Grimmsnarl is the main source of survivability, with Reflect + Light Screen. Thunder Wave is often unexpected and can paralyse opponent win conditions, such as Kyogre and Chlorophyll Venasaur. Spirit Break means that Grimmsnarl can still apply pressure even if taunted. This, along with Incin, tends to be my lead Pokemon, no matter which team it faces. Grimmsnarl in many situations can act like a support, sometimes even performing better than Amoonguss.

Thundurus (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
EVs: 164 HP / 92 Atk / 76 SpD / 172 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fly
- Superpower
- Wild Charge
- Taunt

Thundurus is an often underrated Dynamax threat as it possesses both Max Airstream + Max Knuckle. I added taunt as the last move as an attempt to counter Trick Room teams. The difficult thing about playing with taunt is correctly predicting Trick Room, or even Pokemon carrying Mental Herb. However, thanks to its high speed, when Taunt lands, Trick Room teams will have a terrible time as Thundurus can immediatly Dynamax after.


I’ve had some success with this team, although there are some teams that are very difficult to play against. Trick Room and/or Misty/Psychic Terrain teams are the main suspects.

This team relies on speed and the speed drop of Bulldoze, meaning that there are no real counters to Trick Room in this team.

Misty and Psychic terrain are quite annoying as well. Misty means that Spore, Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp no longer have any effect. Psychic means that Incineroar’s Fake Out and Grimmsnarl’s Thunder Wave cannot be used either.

Quite an unexpected counter to this team is Competitive Milotic. Any stat drops, e.g. from Bulldoze or Parting Shot, would just positively benefit the Milotic.

So, that is my team. Any feedback is greatly appreciated and thanks in advance!

 

[Abs0l21]

Maybe instead sol ndm with moonlight for heal

 

[Abs0l21]

and calyrex shadow rider instead spectrier with astrall barrage

 

[Abs0l21]

Oh vgc srry

 

[yuki]

Hi there!

Given the current state of Series 11, I would say that Solgaleo is generally a bit outdated nowadays. That being said you've got a lot of really good pieces here to work with, and I think that makes things absolutely workable and something that will inevitably be solid for laddering.

Firstly the Solgaleo looks completely fine. Charizard is likely the biggest issue for Solgaleo, so you would need to play around with the Grimmsnarl + Solgaleo idea to overcome that with Max Rockfall. The other main issues that Solgaleo has are Calyrex-S, Groudon and Landorus-T. Spectrier is gonna deal with them aptly, thanks to the Ghost coverage and Will-O-Wisp so that looks mostly fine. Also important to note that the TornOgre ideas would be won via this with Rock Slide.

Spectrier is completely okay, and I think is ultimately correct for what you're doing. Grimmsnarl is also absolutely correct, so no changes on that one there.

Incineroar I think I would just make faster: you can even do something like Impish Max Spe. The biggest reason being that you're wanting to Parting Shot and such with the extra Speed, and the Speed control from the rest of the team. Max Spe is going to be doing well after you paralyse a Zacian-C, for example. You can also consider Taunt over Darkest Lariat, but that's up to you in testing I think. Safety Goggles is a completely fine item, but I think I have a slightly different idea to give the Goggles to.

Set

Incineroar @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Fake Out
- Darkest Lariat
- Parting Shot

I don't mind the idea of Thundurus, but I think I would absolutely be using this slot to better overcome Sun and specifically Charizard. One interesting idea I saw a while ago was Assault Vest Zapdos. The idea behind this is to basically Dynamax it as a good form of speed control with Max Airstream. Max Lightning is able to block Sleep Powder and Spore for the grounded team members. Max Rockfall is capable of taking down Charizard in Dynamax, while it can't really do too much back because of the Assault Vest. It's also an okay idea into the

Set

Zapdos @ Assault Vest
Ability: Static
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Ancient Power

Last slot on the team I would want to be going for another big idea into Calyrex-S. It's the biggest thing that could be taking you down. I think that Moltres-G is the logical last slot. It's another good idea to play for the speed control and has good setup, especially behind Screens. The set I'll attach below is just tooled to outrun Cinderace. It's got good enough bulk to last by itself, but you may find that Nasty Plot is needed to really get going. With Screens and disruption this shouldn't be too hard. With the extra Dark-type on the team, you may choose to run Taunt Incineroar now but it's still up to you.

Set

Moltres-Galar @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Berserk
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 76 Def / 76 SpA / 4 SpD / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Wrath
- Air Slash
- Nasty Plot
- Protect

https://pokepast.es/c87ebf9b4782c1cf Overall the team would look like this.

Alternative options:
I think Porygon2 and AV Thundurus are ideas to run over the Zapdos. Porygon2 allows you to play a much slower Solgaleo and go into Semi-Room, this just works because you have speed control everywhere. It also comes with Eerie Impulse to neuter the effect of Charizard, Calyrex-S and Gastrodon. Recover lets you play the long game. AV Thundurus lets you have a physical option instead of the special Zapdos option. It also lets you punish opposing Darkest Lariat Incineroar, which would otherwise ignore Max Steelspike's Defense boosts on Solgaleo.

Great start to your team, and it looks really good. Hope you find the changes beneficial and that you have fun playing the format!