Aaron takes on Showdown – Week Two
Aaron from PokéCommunity takes on the Pokémon Showdown ladder…with a twist!
Hello and welcome to [a very delayed – thanks real life] Week Two of Aaron takes on Pokemon Showdown! In this weekly series, I will be given an all-singing, all-dancing team by PokéCommunity members to try and accomplish the task of conquering the Pokémon Showdown ladders.
Again I decided to tackle the OverUsed (OU) ladder on Pokémon Showdown. I was extremely hopeful that I’d get a really good team to tackle the likes of Ash-Greninja and Mega-Metagross. However, I got this instead:
[16:55] ~wolf: need make rabi use a squirtle squad team for his next laddering article
[16:55] ~wolf: *to
[16:55] ~Choісe Ѕpecs: eviolite squirtle top rapid spinner
I did not hold high hopes for this, thanks guys. After a very zesty group to choose from, I decided that my Super Six were none other than:
 |
|
Kingler |
|
|---|---|
| Held Item | Choice Scarf |
| Ability | Hyper Cutter |
| EVs | 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe |
| Nature | Jolly (+Spe, -SAtk) |
| Moves |
|
 |
|
Mandibuzz |
|
|---|---|
| Held Item | Leftovers |
| Ability | Overcoat |
| EVs | 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe |
| Nature | Calm (+SpD, -Atk) |
| Moves |
|
 |
|
Flygon |
|
|---|---|
| Held Item | Groundium Z |
| Ability | Levitate |
| EVs | 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe |
| Nature | Adamant (+Atk, -SAtk) |
| Moves |
|
 |
|
Espeon |
|
|---|---|
| Held Item | Starf Berry |
| Ability | Magic Bounce |
| EVs | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe |
| Nature | Timid (+Spe, -Atk) |
| Moves |
|
 |
|
Squirtle |
|
|---|---|
| Held Item | Eviolite |
| Ability | Rain Dish |
| EVs | 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD |
| Nature | Bold (+Def, -Atk) |
| Moves |
|
 |
|
Slowking |
|
|---|---|
| Held Item | Sitrus Berry |
| Ability | Own Tempo |
| EVs | 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD |
| Nature | Adamant (+Atk, -SAtk) |
| Moves |
|
Say hello to free wins, Scarf Xurkitree! This was most definitely an interesting team and hey, with Squirtle as my trusty Spinner I was definitely going to be taking names and soaring up to the 1700s. Right? RIGHT? Well after what seemed like the longest battling marathon of my life, that was not the case. However it most DEFINITELY was not an unpleasant experience, for sure! There were actually some really neat moments where this team clicked and definitely some surprising turns too!
VIP goes to Squirtle for actually holding its ground in OU and being responsible for the death of a Celesteela, woo! Thank you Battle Server for this great suggestion. MVP however goes to gimmepie’s Starf Espeon set, which actually worked in a much different way than intended! This set utilises Espeon’s frail defences to trigger Starf Berry’s effect (+2 to a random stat when below 25%) and Baton Pass to then boost another Pokémon. HOWEVER what normally happened is that it got a relevant boost and instead swept teams after one Calm Mind. A nicely thought out set and I am very tempted to try your whole team out on the ladder!
As a whole, bulky walls seemed to be the bane of my life as most of them seemed to actually pack quite a punch and would manage to dent 2-3 members of my team before I could get steamrolling. However it seems that a +1 Groundium Z Flygon is actually pretty strong! If it were not for its awful Speed tier I would perhaps look at a team around this thing.
With more battles under my belt for Week 2, it seems we are definitely on the back foot, but not as much as expected! I’ve decided to spice it up a little and will be laddering in the UnderUsed (UU) tier throughout this week; submissions for Week 4 will be available in my Submissions thread for next week, where I will be laddering in the RarelyUsed (RU) tier!
Aaron takes on Showdown thread: https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=391096
Continue to Page 2 for some statistics and most importantly, those replays!
