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The author built this team entirely around personal favorites rather than pure competitive meta, headlined by Mega Scizor running the classic dual-move plus Swords Dance + Roost set, which was more comfortable here than in ORAS or SV without Hidden Power Fire or Tera threats. Garchomp leads most games using a specially-defensive Sitrus Berry set to guarantee two moves against Primarina and handle surprise coverage like Espathra. Sylveon (Leftovers) acts as a physical cushion and special Dragon answer, setting up yawn loops around hazards and using Mystical Fire for value against Dragon-Steel cores. Mega Greninja plays speed-mind-game lines via Protean, while Mimikyu (Lum Berry) handles Lopunny and Delphox matchups. Corviknight fills the final slot purely as a team slot to deter opponents from freely leading Meowscarada. The author calls this the most genuinely fun season in a decade of competitive play.Build article →

The plan is to use strong Pokemon to deny the opponent's Stealth Rock while setting up your own, then make a back-line Sash piece and a rock-weak threat shine. The core is Mega Clefable, which bounces Stealth Rock with Magic Bounce while laying its own, leads almost every game, and guarantees actions versus Mega Gengar. Skeledirge runs Unaware plus Yawn plus Protect, tanks most hits to lock opponents into a Yawn loop, and is solid into Steel Megas and Corviknight. Focus Sash Garchomp acts as a setup sweeper and revenge finisher, and thanks to Clefable it avoids rocks and keeps its Sash. Corviknight uses Thunder Wave and Bulk Up to make threats easier to handle. Mega Greninja is the second Mega, specifically for Mega Glimmora teams. The author's main takeaway is recognizing the build style he's good at, but he regrets stacking too many unstable factors like paralysis, sleep turns, and criBuild article →

The author adapted a cycle-based team built around Tsareena, Bellibolt and Umbreon that another player had used competitively, swapping Glimmora for Blastoise. The intended core play was to use Tsareena's U-turn to bring in a Mega Evolution and apply raw offensive pressure. Blastoise was included because the author could not find a clean solution to simultaneously handle Gengar plus Garchomp plus bulky Pokemon and the opponent's Mega slot. The author only figured out the correct lead-Tsareena-into-Mega-attacker approach on an all-nighter on the final day, too late to capitalise, finishing at rank 429. The author's honest takeaway is that this team was incomplete, and the broader reflection is that cycle-based strategies are systemically weak in this format: Garchomp and Archaludon can dismantle low-firepower teams with Stealth Rock and Dragon Tail, and the draw rule punishes stall-oriented play more than ever.Build article →

His concept never changes — win with the Pokemon he wants to use — and this season those were Hydreigon and Mawile. He was confident in last season's build so he kept it as the base, but it already ran three Dragons, so Dragonite got cut as the redundant special Dragon and Hydreigon took its place; that left the team short on Fire coverage, hence Mega Charizard Y, and the specially defensive Archaludon of last season, though excellent, was being teched against everywhere, so it became Glimmora to warp opposing team selection and let Basculegion shine. Lum Berry Hydreigon was his MVP: with Bellibolt numbers rising the team needed something that could actually break walls, and Substitute blanks status moves like Soak while Volt Switch can't break the Substitute, so it sets up with Nasty Plot and turns the Umbreon, Bellibolt and Toxapex brought to check a Choice Scarf set into free sweeps. Build article →

The author was in a slump at rating 1790 when they spotted a Milotic running Cute Charm online, tried it and immediately felt it was strong, so they built around Milotic. Milotic was the undisputed lead for most games: few Electric-types threatened it, and Mirror Coat was largely unknown early in the season so Mega Dragonite and Archaludon would walk into Thunderbolt and get punished. Against Charizard-Y the author would gamble on Mirror Coat for the win; even if it turned out to be Charizard-X, surviving a hit and using Black Mist bought enough time for the Choice Scarf Garchomp in the back to clean up. Mega Gengar was included per the reference team but was barely used at roughly ten percent select rate. Mega Scizor's bulk let it set up Swords Dance and sweep with Bullet Punch; it had the third-highest select rate. Choice Scarf Garchomp was the fastest cleaner, covering Basculegion and Hydreigon, and had the second-highest select rate. Ceruledge replaced the original Mimikyu to check Corviknight and pressure opponents away from using Mega Florges. The hardest match-ups were Substitute Mega Dragonite, which spiked in usage late in the season, Substitute-plus-Nasty Plot Hydreigon, and Araquanid which hard-counters Milotic.Build article →

The team was built on impulse after the author got swept 3-on-1 by a friend's Conkeldurr, so he scrapped his old squad and rebuilt around it. Conkeldurr runs Life Orb with Sheer Force and Ice Punch/Fire Punch/Thunder Punch/Mach Punch to one-shot common threats like Primarina and Meowscarada; Mega Blastoise is paired specifically to force opponents into sending out exactly those two targets. Mega Delphox handles the heavy Hydreigon and Metagross matchups that were popular that season, while Choice Scarf Diggersby covers the Mimikyu weakness and out-tricks Mega Delphox mirrors. Archaludon sets up Stealth Rock and phazes away boosts to avoid being used as a setup target. The author openly admits the team is underdeveloped — it wins mainly by reading the opponent's team selection almost perfectly, and that prediction requirement is the core weakness.Build article →

The author has run Pinsir alongside Swampert since the Ultra Sun and Moon days and wanted a result with it on Champions, which he finally got. He states outright that the team has no default three — all six fight, and since it can barely pivot at all, tailoring picks to the opponent is what matters most. Pinsir: having Swampert on the team baits Grass-types and Grass coverage into leading, so he leads Pinsir aggressively against those (watching out for Glimmora), Body Slam steals wins from hopeless positions, and he runs Hyper Cutter because Intimidate is everywhere. Swampert is tuned to survive Timid Mega Dragonite's and Adamant Mega Blaziken's two-move sequences, and its edge over Hippowdon is Flip Turn, which doesn't waste sleep turns, plus opponents lead with Swampert-conscious picks so it also functions as bait. Archaludon leads whenever Charizard Y or Alolan Ninetales is present, aBuild article →

The team is built around a Hippowdon-core Starmie squad adapted from another player's article, reworked to handle new threats like Mawile and Mega Metagross. Archaludon runs a specially defensive Sitrus Berry set, acting as a switch-in pivot for Greninja and Primarina matchups while also setting up Stealth Rock to enable Hippowdon's Yawn sweeping. Mega Lucario uses a Nasty Plot special set to punish Scarf Dark-types, Kingambit, and Slowbro cycles that Starmie struggles against. The default lead is Archaludon plus Hippowdon with a flexible third slot, ideally Starmie. The author considers Hippowdon the strongest member of the squad, generating endless advantage through Stealth Rock and Yawn; the main weakness is Lucario's win rate stubbornly hovering around 70% before dropping off, and Mamoswine barely saw play across the season.Build article →

The author built around their long-time partner Azumarill as the absolute centrepiece, supporting it with Mega Froslass. Azumarill holds Oran Berry and uses the Belly Drum route: after doubling its Attack, it cleans with Aqua Tail, Play Rough and Aqua Jet. The author raised its Speed from 83 to 91 to outspeed Speed-invested Corviknight and some other base-60 Pokemon. Mega Froslass sets Aurora Veil under Hail to boost the whole team's bulk, then stacks Nasty Plot to become a late-game attacker; its blizzard-freeze flips several games. The default lead trio is Garchomp plus Froslass plus Azumarill: Froslass raises the veil, then Azumarill Belly Drums to sweep, with Garchomp cleaning the early turns and controlling the Speed tier. Kingambit with Black Glasses and Supreme Overlord is one of the hardest-hitting cleaners in the field. Mega Dragonite provides wide coverage, flinch rate from Air Slash and burn from Flamethrower for reliable trading. Archaludon on Leftovers handles physically-oriented Mega teams, while Mega Dragonite covers Grass and Fighting threats. The biggest weakness is that Poison-types like Gengar and Glimmora hard-counter Azumarill; if the lead guess goes wrong, the game is very hard to recover, which is why the author named the team around luck.Build article →

This is a port of the author's favorite attack-cycle build from SV Regulation H, framed around three pillars: a high-power pivot attacker, a physical cushion and a special cushion. In the Champions pool those become Huge Power Mega Starmie (Aqua Break, Quick Turn, Aqua Jet, Psycho Cut), Corviknight as the physical cushion (Body Press, U-turn, Iron Defense, Roost) and Bellibolt as the special cushion (Parabolic Charge, Slack Off, Toxic, Soak). Scarf Meowscarada is the revenge killer, Sash Swords Dance Garchomp is there to fight Archaludon, and Mega Glimmora covers the Meganium, Charizard and Floette the core can't, with Needle Guard cracking Mega Lopunny's knee. The glaring weakness is Archaludon itself: its Mirror Coat punishes nearly all of the team's special attackers, leaving the author boxed in all game.Build article →

The team started from a friend's build featuring Mega Staraptor, Gholdengo, Garchomp, Alolan Ninetales, Kingambit, and Choice Scarf Basculegion, then went through several revisions. Gholdengo was swapped for Choice Scarf Hydreigon due to being too frail, and Mega Delphox was added late to counter Mega Staraptor's counters while pairing well with Kingambit. The core gameplan is to lead with Focus Sash Glimmora to set Stealth Rock and clear the path for Mega Staraptor to sweep through type matchups; Kingambit cleans up after a Swords Dance and was selected in nearly every game; Mimikyu fills a flexible revenge-killing slot and Mega Delphox covers when Staraptor cannot be brought. The author identifies Greninja, Mega Raichu-Y, and Primarina as the hardest matchups, noting the team has no Ground-type to handle Mega Raichu-Y, and Hippowdon with Whirlwind can disrupt both Mega Staraptor and MeBuild article →

With many new Pokemon flooding the meta this season, the author kept the core simple: Archaludon sets Stealth Rock and Roars to deny setup, then Mega Blaziken and Choice Scarf Basculegion clean up — a trio that very few teams can fully handle. Mega Blaziken runs Stone Edge over Rock Slide to secure KOs on Mega Delphox and Mega Dragonite even without Stealth Rock support, and to threaten Skeledirge and Charizard in spots where switching to Basculegion is not an option; the trade-off is that Feint introduces some luck-based moments. Basculegion uses Flip Turn to cycle into favorable matchups and combos with Archaludon's Roar to deny Substitute before sweeping with Shadow Sneak. Mega Meganium with Leaf Storm handles Hippowdon and Mimikyu matchups; sash Garchomp keeps Charizard and Mawile in check; Taunt Corviknight dismantles stall cores. The main weakness is when Archaludon is forced out aBuild article →