I've been lurking around smogon for a while now, finally decided to make an account and submit my Anything Goes HO team. It is built around Sticky Web and screens Grimmsnarl.
Calyrex-Shadow @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: As One (Spectrier)
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Astral Barrage
- Grass Knot
- Encore
Caly-Shadow is the best mon in the tier with amazing SpA and speed. My team lacks hazard control, so it has boots. Opposing webs can be quite bad for this team. Tera Grass to boost Grass Knot, 2hkos Ting-Lu. Standard 252/252/4 spread to maximize offensive power, Timid to boost speed. I chose Substitute because it guarantees Caly lives one hit and can fire back a lot of damage, plus deals with Sucker Punch mindgames vs Kingambit. Plus, if I do manage to get a kill behind Sub, good luck winning. Grass Knot for stuff I can't hit with Astral Barrage like Ting-Lu or Arceus-Normal. Encore is very useful, I can lock Ekiller into either E-speed or Swords Dance and get some Astral Barrage damage into the switch-in. Oh, and it's only 2hko'd by Ekiller's shadow claw behind Reflect, which is cool I guess?
Miraidon @ Leftovers
Ability: Hadron Engine
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 164 HP / 252 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Agility
- Parabolic Charge
- Dazzling Gleam
Double dance Miraidon. Quite hard to remove with screens up. Lefties for passive recovery, tera Fairy to boost Dazzling Gleam and be immune to opposing dragon attacks. EV'd to outspeed scarf Caly-Shadow after one Agility. Calm Mind has the added benefit of boosting special defense, so it's even harder to kill. Parabolic charge heals Mirai to prevent it from being revenge killed (more). Dazzling Gleam is coverage, and boosted by tera.
Ribombee @ Focus Sash
Ability: Shield Dust
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Moonblast
- U-turn
- Stun Spore
Suicide sticky web lead. Sash to guarantee webs goes up, and Shield Dust is just the best ability. Tera Ghost to block Rapid Spin and Extreme Speed, but I never use it. Max SpA and Spe because it's really frail anyway, and the extra power allows it to chip enemies. Ribombee's extra damage on mons without recovery can be particularly useful. U-turn is to keep momentum and pivot out to use as a sac or to finish off something later on. Stun Spore is kind of high-risk high-reward, if you hit it on something like a Caly-Shadow or Koraidon, it's more or less useless for the whole game. Missing however, means Ribombee dies for nothing.
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Behemoth Blade
- Wild Charge
- Play Rough
Just generally a good sweeper/wallbreaker. Tera Fire to prevent burns, max Atk and Spe with Jolly to outspeed everything except Caly-Shadow while hitting hard. Swords Dance is setup, boosts damage output. I chose Wild Charge over Close Combat to hit Ho-oh, since the rest of my team has nothing for it except Miraidon. Behemoth Blade at +1 2HKOs Ekiller anyway. Behemoth Blade and Play Rough are just Zacian's STABs while also covering a good portion of the metagame.
Koraidon @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Orichalcum Pulse
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Scale Shot
- Flare Blitz
- Low Kick
Sweeps things. Out of everything here, I find that Koraidon wins the most games. It's pretty standard, Attack and Speed boosting with SD and Scale Shot. Flare Blitz is sun-boosted and damages things like Zacian or Dusk Mane. Low Kick hits at max power (120) most of the time so that over Collision Course. Revenged easily by Ekiller but that's what Calyrex is for.
Grimmsnarl @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Taunt
Screens support. Tera Steel to resist Behemoth Blade and Espeed, but like Ribombee I never use it. Adamant Play Rough with max Atk EVs 2hkos Ting-Lu and ohkos dragons, plus fairy is a good offensive type in AG. Taunt to stop hazards, because I have no hazard control. Good for stopping setup, statuses like burn or para, stuff like Whirlwind etc.
Threats
Trick Room. I cannot win at all. Once Trick Room goes up and Calyrex-Ice comes in, it's one kill per turn. Screens helps, but even then it's a 2hko to everything and Caly-Ice can just be Healing Wish'd up to full again. I know every team has its weaknesses, but this one is particularly bad.
Stall. Uggh. The new Unaware mons introduced in gen 9 do not help. The opponent can just switch between walls, chipping my team down with hazards and Toxic damage. I have no hazard removal, no recovery. Dozo+Clodsire+Gliscor walls my whole team. It's not as impossible as Trick Room, but still very annoying and requires a lot of good predicts.
Yes, I know Ditto is every HO team's biggest fear. Ignores webs, copies boosted sweeper, tears through everything. Obviously I can just limit the setup I do, keep mons with useful immunties around to exploit scarf, but my mons don't hit hard enough without setup and in the lategame everybody is dead.
So this is my Anything Goes team, I hope somebody can help me improve it so I can go even higher on the ladder. Thank you!
Calyrex-Shadow @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: As One (Spectrier)
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Astral Barrage
- Grass Knot
- Encore
Caly-Shadow is the best mon in the tier with amazing SpA and speed. My team lacks hazard control, so it has boots. Opposing webs can be quite bad for this team. Tera Grass to boost Grass Knot, 2hkos Ting-Lu. Standard 252/252/4 spread to maximize offensive power, Timid to boost speed. I chose Substitute because it guarantees Caly lives one hit and can fire back a lot of damage, plus deals with Sucker Punch mindgames vs Kingambit. Plus, if I do manage to get a kill behind Sub, good luck winning. Grass Knot for stuff I can't hit with Astral Barrage like Ting-Lu or Arceus-Normal. Encore is very useful, I can lock Ekiller into either E-speed or Swords Dance and get some Astral Barrage damage into the switch-in. Oh, and it's only 2hko'd by Ekiller's shadow claw behind Reflect, which is cool I guess?
Miraidon @ Leftovers
Ability: Hadron Engine
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 164 HP / 252 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Agility
- Parabolic Charge
- Dazzling Gleam
Double dance Miraidon. Quite hard to remove with screens up. Lefties for passive recovery, tera Fairy to boost Dazzling Gleam and be immune to opposing dragon attacks. EV'd to outspeed scarf Caly-Shadow after one Agility. Calm Mind has the added benefit of boosting special defense, so it's even harder to kill. Parabolic charge heals Mirai to prevent it from being revenge killed (more). Dazzling Gleam is coverage, and boosted by tera.
Ribombee @ Focus Sash
Ability: Shield Dust
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Moonblast
- U-turn
- Stun Spore
Suicide sticky web lead. Sash to guarantee webs goes up, and Shield Dust is just the best ability. Tera Ghost to block Rapid Spin and Extreme Speed, but I never use it. Max SpA and Spe because it's really frail anyway, and the extra power allows it to chip enemies. Ribombee's extra damage on mons without recovery can be particularly useful. U-turn is to keep momentum and pivot out to use as a sac or to finish off something later on. Stun Spore is kind of high-risk high-reward, if you hit it on something like a Caly-Shadow or Koraidon, it's more or less useless for the whole game. Missing however, means Ribombee dies for nothing.
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Behemoth Blade
- Wild Charge
- Play Rough
Just generally a good sweeper/wallbreaker. Tera Fire to prevent burns, max Atk and Spe with Jolly to outspeed everything except Caly-Shadow while hitting hard. Swords Dance is setup, boosts damage output. I chose Wild Charge over Close Combat to hit Ho-oh, since the rest of my team has nothing for it except Miraidon. Behemoth Blade at +1 2HKOs Ekiller anyway. Behemoth Blade and Play Rough are just Zacian's STABs while also covering a good portion of the metagame.
Koraidon @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Orichalcum Pulse
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Scale Shot
- Flare Blitz
- Low Kick
Sweeps things. Out of everything here, I find that Koraidon wins the most games. It's pretty standard, Attack and Speed boosting with SD and Scale Shot. Flare Blitz is sun-boosted and damages things like Zacian or Dusk Mane. Low Kick hits at max power (120) most of the time so that over Collision Course. Revenged easily by Ekiller but that's what Calyrex is for.
Grimmsnarl @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Taunt
Screens support. Tera Steel to resist Behemoth Blade and Espeed, but like Ribombee I never use it. Adamant Play Rough with max Atk EVs 2hkos Ting-Lu and ohkos dragons, plus fairy is a good offensive type in AG. Taunt to stop hazards, because I have no hazard control. Good for stopping setup, statuses like burn or para, stuff like Whirlwind etc.
Threats
Trick Room. I cannot win at all. Once Trick Room goes up and Calyrex-Ice comes in, it's one kill per turn. Screens helps, but even then it's a 2hko to everything and Caly-Ice can just be Healing Wish'd up to full again. I know every team has its weaknesses, but this one is particularly bad.
Stall. Uggh. The new Unaware mons introduced in gen 9 do not help. The opponent can just switch between walls, chipping my team down with hazards and Toxic damage. I have no hazard removal, no recovery. Dozo+Clodsire+Gliscor walls my whole team. It's not as impossible as Trick Room, but still very annoying and requires a lot of good predicts.
Yes, I know Ditto is every HO team's biggest fear. Ignores webs, copies boosted sweeper, tears through everything. Obviously I can just limit the setup I do, keep mons with useful immunties around to exploit scarf, but my mons don't hit hard enough without setup and in the lategame everybody is dead.
So this is my Anything Goes team, I hope somebody can help me improve it so I can go even higher on the ladder. Thank you!