With the disaster of VGC 2016 behind, I decided to try my hand once again in this highly competitive format. For the past couple months, I've been building various teams, with little success. When trying to convince my friend to try VGC, I came up with the idea for a Garchomp/Celesteela team core. When I arrived home I was very excited to pursue this further, and in the past two weeks I've made a variety of improvements. I am looking for feedback and hope that this team will be capable of winning tournaments. The team's biggest problem, apart from Kartana, is Arcanine, since Intimidate and Snarl are quick to cripple.
Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Protect
-Fire Fang
One of the first members of my team, Garchomp is a hard hitter, made better by a noticeable ground weakness in the current metagame. Life Orb increases the damage output, while not being much of a hindrance, since Garchomp is so frail. Earthquake is necessary, Rock Slide helps to hit flying types, I like to have Protect on most Pokémon, and Fire Fang allows it to OHKO Kartana. Max speed Kartana still outspeeds Garchomp by two points, though, so much of my team carries fire moves to defeat this menace.
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
-Heavy Slam
-Flamethrower
-Protect
-Earthquake
Celesteela pairs well with Garchomp for a variety of reasons; Garchomp counters electric and fire types (Celesteela's weaknesses) and Celesteela counters Garchomp's, dragon, ice, and fairy. Since Celesteela is tied for being the heaviest Pokémon, Heavy Slam is the obvious choice for STAB. Flamethrower will likely make Celesteela my prime Kartana counter, since Kartana doesn't get moves to hit Celesteela hard. Since adding Earthquake on Celesteela, it has greater coverage, can 1v1 or 1v2 a lot more successfully, and activates Beast Boost much more frequently. Side note: KO'ing your own Pokémon still activates Beast Boost.
Gigalith @ Rockium Z
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 100 HP / 244 Atk / 100 Def / 60 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
-Rock Slide
-Wide Guard
-Protect
-Heavy Slam
After building Garchomp and Celesteela, I realized that both were immune to sand, so I decided to add Gigalith to the team. I did a lot of damage calcs earlier to specialize the EV spread, heavily basing it around surviving the Tapus' attacks, and KO'ing Tapu Lele. The set is not unusual, though I am unsure of the item. It is a great weather counter, as only Torkoal underspeeds it in that aspect.
Drampa @ White Herb
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
-Hyper Voice
-Draco Meteor
-Protect
-Flamethrower
I know what you're thinking: "Why are you running Sap Sipper? Berserk is so much better!" I started out running Berserk on Drampa, but in all of the battles I used it, I never received a Berserk boost. The one time Drampa fell under 50% without being KO'ed, it was by Toxic, so it didn't count. I added Drampa because of my need for a special attacker, and with Sap Sipper it could also switch into a Horn Leech. Hyper Voice hits two targets hard, Draco Meteor can OHKO a multitude of threats (with White Herb negating the stat drop), and Flamethrower kills the infamous Kartana.
Tapu Fini @ Choice Specs
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 236 SpA
Modest Nature
-Moonblast
-Scald
-Hidden Power Fire
-Shadow Ball
With the first half of my team being heavily sand-based, Tapu Fini provided much needed coverage to common threats. Moonblast OHKO's most dragons (i.e. Garchomp, Salamence), and with specs can sometimes even pick up neutral kills. Scald does this when super-effective, HP Fire KO's Kartana, and Shadow ball hits psychic types.
Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Thunderbolt
-Dazzling Gleam
-Protect
-Grass Knot
With only one slot left on the team, I felt my team really needed a strong Celesteela counter. Tapu Koko's Gigavolt Havoc in Electric Terrain can pick up so many kills, it may really turn the tide of a battle. Dazzling Gleam also OHKO's a surprising number of opponents, making up for Koko's lack of Moonblast. Grass Knot KO's Gastrodon, but I am debating swapping it for HP Fire, since this is my only Pokémon that outspeeds Kartana.
Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Protect
-Fire Fang
One of the first members of my team, Garchomp is a hard hitter, made better by a noticeable ground weakness in the current metagame. Life Orb increases the damage output, while not being much of a hindrance, since Garchomp is so frail. Earthquake is necessary, Rock Slide helps to hit flying types, I like to have Protect on most Pokémon, and Fire Fang allows it to OHKO Kartana. Max speed Kartana still outspeeds Garchomp by two points, though, so much of my team carries fire moves to defeat this menace.
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
-Heavy Slam
-Flamethrower
-Protect
-Earthquake
Celesteela pairs well with Garchomp for a variety of reasons; Garchomp counters electric and fire types (Celesteela's weaknesses) and Celesteela counters Garchomp's, dragon, ice, and fairy. Since Celesteela is tied for being the heaviest Pokémon, Heavy Slam is the obvious choice for STAB. Flamethrower will likely make Celesteela my prime Kartana counter, since Kartana doesn't get moves to hit Celesteela hard. Since adding Earthquake on Celesteela, it has greater coverage, can 1v1 or 1v2 a lot more successfully, and activates Beast Boost much more frequently. Side note: KO'ing your own Pokémon still activates Beast Boost.
Gigalith @ Rockium Z
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 100 HP / 244 Atk / 100 Def / 60 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
-Rock Slide
-Wide Guard
-Protect
-Heavy Slam
After building Garchomp and Celesteela, I realized that both were immune to sand, so I decided to add Gigalith to the team. I did a lot of damage calcs earlier to specialize the EV spread, heavily basing it around surviving the Tapus' attacks, and KO'ing Tapu Lele. The set is not unusual, though I am unsure of the item. It is a great weather counter, as only Torkoal underspeeds it in that aspect.
Drampa @ White Herb
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
-Hyper Voice
-Draco Meteor
-Protect
-Flamethrower
I know what you're thinking: "Why are you running Sap Sipper? Berserk is so much better!" I started out running Berserk on Drampa, but in all of the battles I used it, I never received a Berserk boost. The one time Drampa fell under 50% without being KO'ed, it was by Toxic, so it didn't count. I added Drampa because of my need for a special attacker, and with Sap Sipper it could also switch into a Horn Leech. Hyper Voice hits two targets hard, Draco Meteor can OHKO a multitude of threats (with White Herb negating the stat drop), and Flamethrower kills the infamous Kartana.
Tapu Fini @ Choice Specs
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 236 SpA
Modest Nature
-Moonblast
-Scald
-Hidden Power Fire
-Shadow Ball
With the first half of my team being heavily sand-based, Tapu Fini provided much needed coverage to common threats. Moonblast OHKO's most dragons (i.e. Garchomp, Salamence), and with specs can sometimes even pick up neutral kills. Scald does this when super-effective, HP Fire KO's Kartana, and Shadow ball hits psychic types.
Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Thunderbolt
-Dazzling Gleam
-Protect
-Grass Knot
With only one slot left on the team, I felt my team really needed a strong Celesteela counter. Tapu Koko's Gigavolt Havoc in Electric Terrain can pick up so many kills, it may really turn the tide of a battle. Dazzling Gleam also OHKO's a surprising number of opponents, making up for Koko's lack of Moonblast. Grass Knot KO's Gastrodon, but I am debating swapping it for HP Fire, since this is my only Pokémon that outspeeds Kartana.
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