Core/Synergy Guide

Cool Girl · June 16, 2016

Before we start, I give huge credit to Smogon who really tried to help me understand what cores and synergy is. You can also find their guide on cores and synergy here: http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue39/synergy-cores-teambuilding Also, some parts I copy-pasted from Smogon, I will let you know which parts are those from Smogon. I also want to give huge credit to Smogon as it has been very helpful writing this guide) Anyways, off we go!

I - Introduction

So, in order to help people with their team building, I thought we should make a core thread. So, what is a core? In order to know what a core is, let's start with what is synergy. Knowing about Cores and Synergy will really help you make a great competitive team. So, off you go reading, young trainee!

II - Synergy

What is Synergy?

Synergy - "The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects." (Copy-pasted off Smogon, all credits for that sentence goes to Smogon)

So, basically synergy is how well two or more pokémon can work together. This is a basic part of teambuilding. If you are a beginner, I recommend you know about pokémon types, such as what type each pokémon are and which type they are weak to. Now, there are two types of synergy: synergy through typing and synergy through Checks and Counters

Synergy through typing

Synergy through typing is when two pokémon or more pokémon can cover each other's weaknesses. Here's an example (gonna use the example from Smogon)

Venusaur is weak to Physic, Ice, Flying, and Fire. Heatran is weak to Ground, Fighting, and Water. Heatran can cover Venusaur's weakness. Why? Well, because Heatran is immune to fire and resists Venusaur's other three types. Also, Venusaur can cover Heatran's weaknesses. Why? Well, sure Venusaur gets hit by Ground type, but it resists Heatran's other two types, which is Fighting and Water.

That is Synergy through typing, now let's talk about synergy through checks and counters

Synergy through Checks and Counters
Synergy through checks and counters takes a different approach to synergy; instead of each Pokémon covering the other's weaknesses through its typing, check and counter synergy involves twoPokémon that work well together because each can remove the other's specific checks and counters. This type of synergy aims to give let each Pokémon give its teammate an easier time fulfilling its role, whether it's walling or sweeping, by removing the Pokémon that stop it from doing so.

The combination of Mega Gyarados and Talonflame is the perfect example of check and counter synergy. While they don't have the best type synergy, each excels in defeating its partner's counters, opening up opportunities for their partner to sweep. Mega Gyarados is a deadly sweeper but is often hindered by the likes of Keldeo, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory. Talonflame can help Mega Gyarados by taking down these Pokémon with its super effective STAB attacks. In the same vein, Talonflame is stopped by its fair share of counters, such as Heatran, Tyranitar, and Hippowdon. Mega Gyarados can assist Talonflame's sweep by destroying these Pokémon. This is an illustration of a great synergetic pair through checks and counters.

(This part I copy-pasted off Smogon. I give absolute credit to them)

III-Cores

What are Cores?

Cores are groups of two or more Pokémon that have synergy through their typing, through checks and counters, or both. (Copy-pasted off Smogon. I give credit to them)

Types Of Cores

There are two types of cores: offensive and defensive cores. There are also balanced cores. Balanced cores are a combination of both offensive and defensive pokémon. Offensive cores are focused on elimination other pokémon fast with high-powered attacks. They are made of bulky attackers and sweepers. Defensive cores are focused on wearing down the opponent and stopping offensive threats. They are made of walls and very bulky attackers, but from my personal experience, most defensive cores are made of walls.

Building Your Own Core

Building your own core isn't easy, on the contrary, it is very difficult, but it happens that you may accidentally encounter one, but a core doesn't definitely come off of the top of your head. The key to building a good core is that they have both kinds of synergy: synergy through typing and synergy through checks and counters. A good way to start building your own core is to select a pokémon and to identify its weaknesses and checks/counters. Next, try to find a pokémon that covers the other pokémon's weakness. Don't forget to take into account the pokémon's base stats! After you finish building the core, test it out in battles and see how it goes. If it works out for you, then good for you. If not, then tweak it and keep testing it. Building a great core takes a lot of patience.

IV-Conclusion

So, we covered everything about cores and synergy. However, this is not everything about team building. It is only a part of teambuilding. There is still a lot to learn about teambuilding such as walls, special attackers, physical attackers......But, that is for another time, I believe.

Now that we got all this down! Time to build some great cores! Post your cores here and I'll add them to the list! Here's an example of how you can post your core (this is not me, this is copy-pasted off of Smogon)

Offensive Core

Keldeo + Mega Metagross
Keldeo @ Leftovers (that was my example of an item since Smogon didn't have an item on Keldeo)
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Secret Sword

Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body --> Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake / Hammer Arm
- Ice Punch / Pursuit
- Zen Headbutt

Also, if you guys have replays of how the core is used, that might be really helpful too! Also, feel free to tweak other people's cores!

Double Ubers

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OU

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Assault Vest Metagross + Rocky Helmet Garchomp (by AndSoThereIsSt3ffo)

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+

Metagross @ Assault Vest

Ability: Clear Body

EVs: 248 HP / 164 Atk / 96 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Bullet Punch

- Meteor Mash

- Earthquake

- Zen Headbutt

Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet

Ability: Rough Skin

EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spe

Impish Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Earthquake

- Fire Blast

- Dragon Tail

Metagross and Garchomp are a perfect balanced core, why? Both of them have an amazing attack and pretty good defenses. Metagross, equipped with an Assault Vest and combined with the right EV spread laughs at most of the special hits. It can also be used as a Heatran counter if you run out of options, EQ + 196 EVs invested in Atk will assure a freaking ton of damage that may (and probably will result in a OHKO). Metagross can even survive to one (and if you're lucky 2) of Heatran Lava Plumes, and we all know how hard these hit.

Garchomp is a good partner mainly for his ability: Rough Skin. Combined with Rocky Helmet it literally punishes a lot of physical attackers out there and can live longer enough to set up Stealth Rocks and/or land a powerful hit on the enemy.

The sinergy between them is not so stellar, but if paired with the right 3rd mon they can hurt. A lot. Metagross checks dangerous threats such as Choice Band Azumarill and Latios/Latias that could be annoying for Garchomp. This one covers Meta on threats like Focus Sash Bisharp and annoying Physical attackers that could put Metagross in trouble. I strongly recommend to pair them with Rotom-W to have the best synergy.

About the sets

- Metagross: EQ is for coverage if Chomp goes down somehow and to hit that freaking Heatran. Bullet Punch gives priority and is STAB, as well as Meteor Mash (wich has a chance to raise Metagross Atk) and Zen Headbutt.

- Garchomp: Stealth Rocks doesn't need explanations, as it just sets hazards on the field. Dragon Tail blocks any form of setup (aside Calm Mind Clefable, but for it there is Metagross) and forms a good combo with SR if the player is lucky with the switches as the rocks will continue hurting the new mons on the field. Fire Blast deals with Ferrothorn, a pokémon quite difficult to handle for Metagross. Earthquake is a powerful STAB that hits hard even without EVs.

Mega Diancie + Rocky Helmet Tangrowth (by Durken, embellished by AndSoThereIsSt3ffo)

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The Fellowship (by Cool Girl, embellished by NovaKnight)

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RU

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Ubers

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+

Sableye @ Sablenite

Ability: Magic Bounce

EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD

Bold Nature

- Calm Mind

- Shadow Ball

- Recover

- Foul Play

Aegislash @ Leftovers

Ability: Stance Change

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD

Careful Nature

- King's Shield

- Shadow Sneak

- Gyro Ball

- Toxic

The idea is that Sableye with magic bounce is only weak to one thing, fairy type attacks, which Aegis resists. Additionally, a SPDEF invested Shield form aegis will give 0 damns about moonblast or dazzling gleam, and then Smash fairies with Iron head. Meanwhile, Arguably Aegis' biggest weaknesses or taunt and will o wisp, both of which are reflected by magic bounce from M-sable

How it works as an anti stall, is by Sableye having Calm mind, allowing it to get loads of spdef to resist fairy moves better and make it basically invincible to special attacks of other types and DEF investment to lessen physical damage, while also being immune to status moves from its ability. It also packs recover just in case you're in a pickle! Additionally, Aegis has Toxic for any tanks that sableye can't handle.

But if your opponent is smart, they won't let you get x4 spdef and spatk, and they'll switch out to a physical mon and boost its attack, at which point, you can smash them with foul play. If they switch out to a fairy, you can switch to Aegis With its defenses in shield form, fairies attacking it will do almost nothing to it with STAB moves, causing the enemy to have to switch out in certain cases.

This aegis set can even withstand an Earthquake from a banded, attack invested Granbull, even without any Physical Defense investment, just in case you opponent predicts your switch.

Things that can synergise well with this core:

Trick Room, as both of these are relatively slow, and sableye loses prankster when it mega-evolves

An eviolite dusclops can pull this off pretty well and resist attacks that both Aegis and Sableye are weak to, through pure defensive stats, as well as also being slow enough to take advantage of TR.

Tailwind: A strange and probably less-effective way to boost your priority (In the literal sense, not as in actually boosting priority bracket)

Because these two are quite slow, this is less effective, however due to their bulk, they can withstand attacks from most high-speed threats, such as gengar and weavile, as well as being able to switch for coverage against scarfed opponents. As a tailwind used, Drifblim is an effective option as It can avoid damage from ground attacks completely (Which aegis is weak to) and clear ground hazards that would hinder your switching-coverage capabilities, such as spikes (and to some extent SR. Also, Sticky web is annoying if you're going Tailwind, so that's handy too.) What really gets the benefit from tailwind the most would be a chandelure, though, as it allows it to take a damage+ item, such as life orb, while still outspeeding opponents.

UU

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~Credits~

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Edited October 15, 2016 by Cool Girl

Shad_ · June 16, 2016

Ohohohoh, this is interesting. Smogon's article is pretty well made too, and this is something the forums need imo since Cores are vital for a team.

I'll throw in a Balanced Core (taken from Smogon's own site but slightly different in the sets)

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Should i explain it or it's fine this way?

Edited June 16, 2016 by AndSoThereIsSt3ffo

Cool Girl · June 16, 2016

On 6/16/2016 at 9:42 PM, AndSoThereIsSt3ffo said:

Ohohohoh, this is interesting. Smogon's article is pretty well made too, and this is something the forums need imo since Cores are vital for a team.

I'll throw in a Balanced Core (taken from Smogon's own site but slightly different in the sets)

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AV Metagross + Rocky Helmet Garchomp

Metagross @ Assault Vest

Ability: Clear Body

EVs: 248 HP / 164 Atk / 96 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Bullet Punch

- Meteor Mash

- Earthquake

- Zen Headbutt

Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet

Ability: Rough Skin

EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spe

Impish Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Earthquake

- Fire Blast

- Dragon Tail

Should i explain it or it's fine this way?

Thank you! I'm glad you like it! I did this to help people with their teambuilding!

And yes, please explain it! Also, what does AV mean?

Edited June 16, 2016 by Cool Girl

Lugruf · June 16, 2016

A quite old offensive core that still works pretty well:

Mega Pinsir + Magnezone

Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Quick Attack / Feint
- Close Combat / Earthquake
- Swords Dance

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Mega Pinsir is walled by steel pokemon that resist its flying type stabs. Skarmory is especially annoying since it has an absurd defense and can hit back very hard with Brave Bird or phaze it with Whirlwind therefore removing the Swords Dance boosts Pinsir might have. Ferrothorn can suppose a problem too, especially when running Earthquake instead of Close Combat, since we won't have a way to hit it super effectively. Even when running Close Combat, Pinsir won't be able to OHKO Ferrothorn unboosted (57.3 - 67.6%) and will be damaged by Iron Barbs and a potential Rocky Helmet, as well as having his defenses lowered, becoming an easy target for a ravenge kill by a priority user or a faster pokemon.
Magnezone traps and kills all those annoying steel types so that Pinsir can sweep. 252 EVs in SpA, a Modest nature and Choice Specs let it OHKO Skarmory with Thunderbolt and Ferrothorn and Scizor with HP Fire, while 252 EVs in Speed make Magnezone outspeed the three of them.

Edited June 17, 2016 by Lugruf

Shad_ · June 16, 2016

Aight, AV means Assault Vest btw, since Metagross is used as a Special Wall in this case! I'll write a short ddescription here:

Metagross and Garchomp are a perfect balanced core, why? Both of them have an amazing attack and pretty good defenses. Metagross, equipped with an Assault Vest and combined with the right EV spread laughs at most of the special hits. It can also be used as a Heatran counter if you run out of options, EQ + 196 EVs invested in Atk will assure a freaking ton of damage that may (and probably will result in a OHKO). Metagross can even survive to one (and if you're lucky 2) of Heatran Lava Plumes, and we all know how hard these hit.

Garchomp is a good partner mainly for his ability: Rough Skin. Combined with Rocky Helmet it literally punishes a lot of physical attackers out there and can live longer enough to set up Stealth Rocks and/or land a powerful hit on the enemy.

The sinergy between them is not so stellar, but if paired with the right 3rd mon they can hurt. A lot. Metagross checks dangerous threats such as Choice Band Azumarill and Latios/Latias that could be annoying for Garchomp. This one covers Meta on threats like Focus Sash Bisharp and annoying Physical attackers that could put Metagross in trouble. I strongly recommend to pair them with Rotom-W to have the best synergy.

About the sets

- Metagross: EQ is for coverage if Chomp goes down somehow and to hit that freaking Heatran. Bullet Punch gives priority and is STAB, as well as Meteor Mash (wich has a chance to raise Metagross Atk) and Zen Headbutt.

- Garchomp: Stealth Rocks doesn't need explanations, as it just sets hazards on the field. Dragon Tail blocks any form of setup (aside Calm Mind Clefable, but for it there is Metagross) and forms a good combo with SR if the player is lucky with the switches as the rocks will continue hurting the new mons on the field. Fire Blast deals with Ferrothorn, a pokémon quite difficult to handle for Metagross. Earthquake is a powerful STAB that hits hard even without EVs.

~~That ended up longer than expected~~ Please let me know if i have to modify something or be more precise!

Edited June 16, 2016 by AndSoThereIsSt3ffo

Cool Girl · June 16, 2016

On 6/16/2016 at 10:17 PM, AndSoThereIsSt3ffo said:

Aight, AV means Assault Vest btw, since Metagross is used as a Special Wall in this case! I'll write a short ddescription here:

Metagross and Garchomp are a perfect balanced core, why? Both of them have an amazing attack and pretty good defenses. Metagross, equipped with an Assault Vest and combined with the right EV spread laughs at most of the special hits. It can also be used as a Heatran counter if you run out of options, EQ + 196 EVs invested in Atk will assure a freaking ton of damage that may (and probably will result in a OHKO). Metagross can even survive to one (and if you're lucky 2) of Heatran Lava Plumes, and we all know how hard these hit.

Garchomp is a good partner mainly for his ability: Rough Skin. Combined with Rocky Helmet it literally punishes a lot of physical attackers out there and can live longer enough to set up Stealth Rocks and/or land a powerful hit on the enemy.

The sinergy between them is not so stellar, but if paired with the right 3rd mon they can hurt. A lot. Metagross checks dangerous threats such as Choice Band Azumarill and Latios/Latias that could be annoying for Garchomp. This one covers Meta on threats like Focus Sash Bisharp and annoying Physical attackers that could put Metagross in trouble. I strongly recommend to pair them with Rotom-W to have the best synergy.

About the sets

- Metagross: EQ is for coverage if Chomp goes down somehow and to hit that freaking Heatran. Bullet Punch gives priority and is STAB, as well as Meteor Mash (wich has a chance to raise Metagross Atk) and Zen Headbutt.

- Garchomp: Stealth Rocks doesn't need explanations, as it just sets hazards on the field. Dragon Tail blocks any form of setup (aside Calm Mind Clefable, but for it there is Metagross) and forms a good combo with SR if the player is lucky with the switches as the rocks will continue hurting the new mons on the field. Fire Blast deals with Ferrothorn, a pokémon quite difficult to handle for Metagross. Earthquake is a powerful STAB that hits hard even without EVs.

~~That ended up longer than expected~~ Please let me know if i have to modify something or be more precise!

Thank you! I have added it! That's exactly what I was looking for

On 6/16/2016 at 10:12 PM, Lugruf said:

A quite old offensive core that still works pretty well:

Pinsir @ Pinsirite

Ability: Hyper Cutter

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Return

- Quick Attack / Feint

- Close Combat / Earthquake

- Swords Dance

Magnezone @ Choice Specs

Ability: Magnet Pull

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Modest Nature

IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe

- Flash Cannon

- Volt Switch

- Thunderbolt

- Hidden Power [Fire]

Mega Pinsir is walled by steel pokemon that resist its flying type stabs. Skarmory is especially annoying since it has an absurd defense and can hit back very hard with Brave Bird. Magnezone traps and kills all those annoying steel types so that Pinsir can sweep.

Do you have a name for this core? (Just like the previous user named it "AV Metagross + Rocky Helmet Garchomp)

Edited June 16, 2016 by Cool Girl

Juniper · June 16, 2016

Anti-Stall Defensive Ubers Ghost Core: (I guess?)

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Anti-Stall core, I would consider it defensive, but to be used to its fullest extent against stall/defensive teams.

I'm not awesome at team-building, but I think this core is pretty effective (It used to be ghost mono legal, but both have since been banned from ghost mono WTF, smogon?)

So there's not really any place you can use this other than Ubers, and I'm not sure how it works out in that tier because I've never tried it.

But the idea is that Sableye with magic bounce is only weak to one thing, fairy type attacks, which Aegis resists. Additionally, a SPDEF invested Shield form aegis will give 0 damns about moonblast or dazzling gleam, and then Smash fairies with Iron head. Meanwhile, Arguably Aegis' biggest weaknesses or taunt and will o wisp, both of which are reflected by magic bounce from M-sable

How it works as an anti stall, is by Sableye having Calm mind, allowing it to get loads of spdef to resist fairy moves better and make it basically invincible to special attacks of other types and DEF investment to lessen physical damage, while also being immune to status moves from its ability. It also packs recover just in case you're in a pickle! Additionally, Aegis has Toxic for any tanks that sableye can't handle.

But if your opponent is smart, they won't let you get x4 spdef and spatk, and they'll switch out to a physical mon and boost its attack, at which point, you can smash them with foul play. If they switch out to a fairy, you can switch to Aegis With its defenses in shield form, fairies attacking it will do almost nothing to it with STAB moves, causing the enemy to have to switch out in certain cases.

This aegis set can even withstand an Earthquake from a banded, attack invested Granbull, even without any Physical Defense investment, just in case you opponent predicts your switch.

Things that can synergise well with this core:

Trick Room, as both of these are relatively slow, and sableye loses prankster when it mega-evolves

An eviolite dusclops can pull this off pretty well and resist attacks that both Aegis and Sableye are weak to, through pure defensive stats, as well as also being slow enough to take advantage of TR.

Tailwind: A strange and probably less-effective way to boost your priority (In the literal sense, not as in actually boosting priority bracket)

Because these two are quite slow, this is less effective, however due to their bulk, they can withstand attacks from most high-speed threats, such as gengar and weavile, as well as being able to switch for coverage against scarfed opponents. As a tailwind used, Drifblim is an effective option as It can avoid damage from ground attacks completely (Which aegis is weak to) and clear ground hazards that would hinder your switching-coverage capabilities, such as spikes (and to some extent SR. Also, Sticky web is annoying if you're going Tailwind, so that's handy too.) What really gets the benefit from tailwind the most would be a chandelure, though, as it allows it to take a damage+ item, such as life orb, while still outspeeding opponents.

I probably missed some points and this core is obsolete to some extent nowadays, with Aegis and Mega-sableye being banned from ghost monotype, but it was something I liked to use, so I figured I might as well share it.

Edited June 16, 2016 by Juuzou

Cool Girl · June 17, 2016

On 6/16/2016 at 11:00 PM, Juuzou said:

Anti-Stall Defensive Ubers Ghost Core: (I guess?)

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Sableye @ Sablenite

Ability: Magic Bounce

EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD

Bold Nature

- Calm Mind

- Shadow Ball

- Recover

- Foul Play

Aegislash @ Leftovers

Ability: Stance Change

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD

Careful Nature

- King's Shield

- Shadow Sneak

- Iron Head

- Toxic

Anti-Stall core, I would consider it defensive, but to be used to its fullest extent against stall/defensive teams.

I'm not awesome at team-building, but I think this core is pretty effective (It used to be ghost mono legal, but both have since been banned from ghost mono WTF, smogon?)

So there's not really any place you can use this other than Ubers, and I'm not sure how it works out in that tier because I've never tried it.

But the idea is that Sableye with magic bounce is only weak to one thing, fairy type attacks, which Aegis resists. Additionally, a SPDEF invested Shield form aegis will give 0 damns about moonblast or dazzling gleam, and then Smash fairies with Iron head. Meanwhile, Arguably Aegis' biggest weaknesses or taunt and will o wisp, both of which are reflected by magic bounce from M-sable

How it works as an anti stall, is by Sableye having Calm mind, allowing it to get loads of spdef to resist fairy moves better and make it basically invincible to special attacks of other types and DEF investment to lessen physical damage, while also being immune to status moves from its ability. It also packs recover just in case you're in a pickle! Additionally, Aegis has Toxic for any tanks that sableye can't handle.

But if your opponent is smart, they won't let you get x4 spdef and spatk, and they'll switch out to a physical mon and boost its attack, at which point, you can smash them with foul play. If they switch out to a fairy, you can switch to Aegis With its defenses in shield form, fairies attacking it will do almost nothing to it with STAB moves, causing the enemy to have to switch out in certain cases.

This aegis set can even withstand an Earthquake from a banded, attack invested Granbull, even without any Physical Defense investment, just in case you opponent predicts your switch.

Things that can synergise well with this core:

Trick Room, as both of these are relatively slow, and sableye loses prankster when it mega-evolves

An eviolite dusclops can pull this off pretty well and resist attacks that both Aegis and Sableye are weak to, through pure defensive stats, as well as also being slow enough to take advantage of TR.

Tailwind: A strange and probably less-effective way to boost your priority (In the literal sense, not as in actually boosting priority bracket)

Because these two are quite slow, this is less effective, however due to their bulk, they can withstand attacks from most high-speed threats, such as gengar and weavile, as well as being able to switch for coverage against scarfed opponents. As a tailwind used, Drifblim is an effective option as It can avoid damage from ground attacks completely (Which aegis is weak to) and clear ground hazards that would hinder your switching-coverage capabilities, such as spikes (and to some extent SR. Also, Sticky web is annoying if you're going Tailwind, so that's handy too.) What really gets the benefit from tailwind the most would be a chandelure, though, as it allows it to take a damage+ item, such as life orb, while still outspeeding opponents.

I probably missed some points and this core is obsolete to some extent nowadays, with Aegis and Mega-sableye being banned from ghost monotype, but it was something I liked to use, so I figured I might as well share it.

You core has been added! Thank you!

I also added some cores if you guys want to check them out!

Edited June 17, 2016 by Cool Girl

Lugruf · June 17, 2016

On 6/16/2016 at 10:43 PM, Cool Girl said:
Do you have a name for this core? (Just like the previous user named it "AV Metagross + Rocky Helmet Garchomp)

How about "M-Pinsir + Magnezone"?

Shudder before my originality!

btw, could you order the index by tiers? This way, a person looking for OU cores for example will only have to look the OU cores instead of checking one by one each core.

Edited June 17, 2016 by Lugruf

Cool Girl · June 17, 2016

On 6/17/2016 at 7:41 AM, Lugruf said:

How about "M-Pinsir + Magnezone"?

Shudder before my originality!

btw, could you order the index by tiers? This way, a person looking for OU cores for example will only have to look the OU cores instead of checking one by one each core.

Thank you, I have organized them more. I have also added your core!

Let me know what you think of how it's organized

Lugruf · June 17, 2016

On 6/17/2016 at 5:48 PM, Cool Girl said:

Thank you, I have organized them more. I have also added your core!

Let me know what you think of how it's organized

Much better. However, I would have chosen another order. Instead of making the division of offensive, defensive, balanced and within each category dividing in tiers, I would have made the first division in tiers, and then within each tier divide in offensive, defensive and balanced cores.

Ubers

Offensive

Defensive

Balanced

OU

Offensive

Defensive

Balanced

UU

Offensive

Defensive

Balanced

...

The idea is the following. Suppose that I want to build a team for OU and I have no idea where to start from. I want to check all the OU cores and then choose the one I prefer. I still don't know for sure if I want to play an offensive or defensive core, but what I know for sure is that I want to play OU. So, I want to have all the OU cores together in order to check them all, and not have any other core around as I'm not interested in it.

Ubers:

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OU:

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RU:

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Edited June 22, 2016 by Lugruf

Durken · June 22, 2016

A really cool OU balanced core that helped me to understand how balanced cores worked and how to use properly Mega Diancie:

Mega Diancie + Rocky Helmet Tangrowth

Portable

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The science behind the core is quite simple, Mega Diancie will do what Mega Diance does, bouncing enemy status moves and hitting very hard with its stabs and hybrid spread that lets her OHKO Charizard-X with Diamond Storm with only just 8 evs on attack. Tangrowth will answer all of the priority users that threaten Mega Diancie like Scizor, Azumarill, Breloom and AV Metagross and cripple them with the Rocky Helmet recoil. It also got passive recover with Regenerator in every switch.

With the right combination of Earthquake/Earth Power and both Hidden Power Fire, this two mons can lure common switches to them like Heatran, Ferrothorn and Jirachi.

I personally like to run this team with an AV Tornadus-T as it makes also a good Regenerator core with Tangrowth and provides momentum with U-Turn but it is not that important as a Mega Diancie partner as Tangrowth is.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Durken

Shad_ · June 22, 2016

First off: more than a tweak i'd consider this as a variant of the core posted by Durken.

I'd like to discuss this core a bit, as i noticed that it lacks a counter against fast Special Poison Types or, as it's more common in OU as far as i know, Fast Poison Type Special moves. I'll take Zoroark as an exemple, since it hits terribly hard if equipped with Specs or LO and it's in the 339 Speed range, so it's also a lot fast.

Here's some calcs to prove what i'm saying:

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As you can see, Tangrowth or even both the mons can be taken down easily by Zoroark. Especially if it gets switched into Tangrowth. Then you're basically forced to rely on Diancie if all of your other options are gone. As i stated before Diancie is KO'ed by 2 Sludge Bomb launched by Zoroark, wich is also faster and in a switch like the one i mentioned then Diancie is doomed, the core gets broken and Tangrowth has to work alone. How to avoid this? Switch Diancie to a Specially Defensive set. Ofc, you'll have to give up on something, and the certain something i'm speaking about is Speed.

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As i said, please just consider this as a variant of the core and not a tweak. The user is free to choose what kind of Diancie he/she intends to use and Zoroark is not so common in the Tier. I just proposed this as i noticed a threat, that's all.

Edited June 22, 2016 by AndSoThereIsSt3ffo

Cool Girl · June 22, 2016

On 6/22/2016 at 9:56 PM, AndSoThereIsSt3ffo said:

First off: more than a tweak i'd consider this as a variant of the core posted by Durken.

I'd like to discuss this core a bit, as i noticed that it lacks a counter against fast Special Poison Types or, as it's more common in OU as far as i know, Fast Poison Type Special moves. I'll take Zoroark as an exemple, since it hits terribly hard if equipped with Specs or LO and it's in the 339 Speed range, so it's also a lot fast.

Here's some calcs to prove what i'm saying:

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252 SpA Choice Specs Zoroark Sludge Bomb vs. 244 HP / 48 SpD Tangrowth: 442-522 (109.9 - 129.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Zoroark Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Mega Diancie: 142-168 (58.9 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

As you can see, Tangrowth or even both the mons can be taken down easily by Zoroark. Especially if it gets switched into Tangrowth. Then you're basically forced to rely on Diancie if all of your other options are gone. As i stated before Diancie is KO'ed by 2 Sludge Bomb launched by Zoroark, wich is also faster and in a switch like the one i mentioned then Diancie is doomed, the core gets broken and Tangrowth has to work alone. How to avoid this? Switch Diancie to a Specially Defensive set. Ofc, you'll have to give up on something, and the certain something i'm speaking about is Speed.

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Diancie-Mega @ Diancite

Ability: Magic Bounce

EVs: 8 Atk / 150 SpA / 252 SpD / 98 Spe

Sassy Nature

- Earth Power / Hidden Power Fire

- Diamond Storm

- Moonblast

- Protect

How would i explain this spread? Easy.

- 8 Atk, Durken already explained this choice.

- 150 SpA, the total amount is now 393, wich is pretty good for a Special Attacker.

- 252 SpD, Diancie reaches a good 350 valor in Special Defense, enough to survive 2 Sludge Bomb from Zoroark and easily kill it / force the opponent into a switch.

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252 SpA Choice Specs Zoroark Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 252+ SpD Mega Diancie: 94-111 (39 - 46%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

- 98 Spe, all the rest is invested into Spe. The total amount reaches 257, kinda bad but it will allow Diancie to survive more Special hits.

As i said, please just consider this as a variant of the core and not a tweak. The user is free to choose what kind of Diancie he/she intends to use and Zoroark is not so common in the Tier. I just proposed this as i noticed a threat, that's all.

Ok so, I made that tweak. Thank you!

Edited June 22, 2016 by Cool Girl

Durken · June 22, 2016

On 6/22/2016 at 9:56 PM, AndSoThereIsSt3ffo said:

First off: more than a tweak i'd consider this as a variant of the core posted by Durken.

I'd like to discuss this core a bit, as i noticed that it lacks a counter against fast Special Poison Types or, as it's more common in OU as far as i know, Fast Poison Type Special moves. I'll take Zoroark as an exemple, since it hits terribly hard if equipped with Specs or LO and it's in the 339 Speed range, so it's also a lot fast.

Here's some calcs to prove what i'm saying:

Reveal hidden contents

252 SpA Choice Specs Zoroark Sludge Bomb vs. 244 HP / 48 SpD Tangrowth: 442-522 (109.9 - 129.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Zoroark Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Mega Diancie: 142-168 (58.9 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

As you can see, Tangrowth or even both the mons can be taken down easily by Zoroark. Especially if it gets switched into Tangrowth. Then you're basically forced to rely on Diancie if all of your other options are gone. As i stated before Diancie is KO'ed by 2 Sludge Bomb launched by Zoroark, wich is also faster and in a switch like the one i mentioned then Diancie is doomed, the core gets broken and Tangrowth has to work alone. How to avoid this? Switch Diancie to a Specially Defensive set. Ofc, you'll have to give up on something, and the certain something i'm speaking about is Speed.

Reveal hidden contents

Diancie-Mega @ Diancite

Ability: Magic Bounce

EVs: 8 Atk / 150 SpA / 252 SpD / 98 Spe

Sassy Nature

- Earth Power / Hidden Power Fire

- Diamond Storm

- Moonblast

- Protect

How would i explain this spread? Easy.

- 8 Atk, Durken already explained this choice.

- 150 SpA, the total amount is now 393, wich is pretty good for a Special Attacker.

- 252 SpD, Diancie reaches a good 350 valor in Special Defense, enough to survive 2 Sludge Bomb from Zoroark and easily kill it / force the opponent into a switch.

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252 SpA Choice Specs Zoroark Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 252+ SpD Mega Diancie: 94-111 (39 - 46%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

- 98 Spe, all the rest is invested into Spe. The total amount reaches 257, kinda bad but it will allow Diancie to survive more Special hits.

As i said, please just consider this as a variant of the core and not a tweak. The user is free to choose what kind of Diancie he/she intends to use and Zoroark is not so common in the Tier. I just proposed this as i noticed a threat, that's all.

While it is true that the core struggles with fast poison mons, the function of it is to deny and hit back all of the priority users that love to send Mega Diancie back to the ground and not to resist this mons. Obviously the core will have some flaws, you shouldn't expect the core to be as solid as a full 6 members team; I personally run on a team with this core Scarf Jirachi and AV Torn-T to deal with that.

Last but not least , the only sludge bomb/wave users on OU are Gengar, MVenusaur and some Volcanions wich all of these 3 can be dealt with AV Torn-T and Scarf Rachi but it wasn't my intention to do a 4 pokemon core as I found it a bit pointless.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Durken

Cobalt996 · June 23, 2016

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Rayquaza can alternatively have Aqua Tail if the rest of your team absolutely cannot deal with opposing Pdons. Aegislash and Pdon can take hits fairly well, and potentially set up toxic/rock phasing. Something else is needed to make the core not suffer from lack of damage, and Rayquaza has a versatile movepool, along with the aforementioned ability to cripple Pdon in one hit. Pdon's physical bulk is impressive, so we capitalize on it, as investment to special bulk tend to make 2HKOs less reliable, while this makes it just not die. To compensate, Aegis provides the special side of the wall.

In summary, two to provide a wall, and one to kill.

Cool Girl · June 30, 2016

On 6/23/2016 at 9:27 PM, Cobalt996 said:

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Rayquaza @ Life Orb

Ability: Air Lock

EVs: 160 Atk / 96 SpA / 252 Spe

Hasty Nature

- Dragon Ascent

- Earthquake

- Extreme Speed

- Draco Meteor

Aegislash @ Leftovers

Ability: Stance Change

EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD

Sassy Nature

IVs: 0 Spe

- Gyro Ball

- Shadow Sneak

- Toxic

- King's Shield

Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb

Ability: Desolate Land

EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def

Relaxed Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Roar

- Earthquake

- Lava Plume

Yes, this is all recognizable. I claim credit for my words on it alone.

Rayquaza can alternatively have Aqua Tail if the rest of your team absolutely cannot deal with opposing Pdons. Aegislash and Pdon can take hits fairly well, and potentially set up toxic/rock phasing. Something else is needed to make the core not suffer from lack of damage, and Rayquaza has a versatile movepool, along with the aforementioned ability to cripple Pdon in one hit. Pdon's physical bulk is impressive, so we capitalize on it, as investment to special bulk tend to make 2HKOs less reliable, while this makes it just not die. To compensate, Aegis provides the special side of the wall.

In summary, two to provide a wall, and one to kill.

Thank you! I have added your core! I also added a UU core, feel free to check that out!

Also guys, please don't hesitate to post cores if you got any! I'd be more than happy to add them on the main post!

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