📈 Ladder Top Builds

Hippowdon was the hardest thing to face this format, so the author insisted his default three include real damage against it. He borrowed the Focus Sash Glimmora plus Mega Lopunny core straight from a previous season's article, changing only Mimikyu to Perish Song Primarina — that Mimikyu spread was tuned to hard-counter specific teams and he could never read when to bring it, while Primarina answers setup and Moody sweepers and thickens his answers to the Mega Lopunny mirror and Hippowdon. Glimmora leads to lay Toxic Spikes while still chipping, Mega Lopunny cleans up from above once Toxic Spikes and Fake Out have stacked damage, and Mystic Water Basculegion is powerful enough that Umbreon, Greninja and Meowscarada can no longer switch in freely, with Stamina Archaludon coming in on physical attacks and carrying a Steel beam for Sylveon and Floette. He admits Glimmora is in trouble agaiBuild article →

出发点是想稳定处理环境顶级的铝钢桥龙：电肚蛙伏特替换接特攻型 Mega 路卡利欧，用波导弹无视持久力/结实一发送走对面。为了不被烈咬陆鲨欺负，加了河马兽当退避点，再上西狮海壬正面压制烈咬陆鲨。收尾交给讲究围巾烈咬陆鲨和 Mega 暴鲤龙。Mega 路卡利欧作者坚持特攻走沉着，牺牲的速度靠操作弥补，副产物是被水洛托姆点鬼火反而无所谓、面对洗翠黏美龙可直接用波导弹打穿；恶之波动是为坚盾剑怪、骨纹巨声鳄、巨金怪、苍炎刃鬼准备的。西狮海壬特防拉满能扛住 Mega 耿鬼一发毒浪，反手急流+神秘水滴泡沫舞轰杀，作者自评是全队 MVP。烈咬陆鲨用岩崩打 Mega 喷火龙Y和火神蛾，毒击专治 Mega 大竺葵，B 塞 2 点用来降低幽尾玄鱼扫墓的命中率。短板是 Mega 宝石海星、Mega 大竺葵、Mega 雷丘（避雷针让电肚蛙没辙）、Mega 蜥蜴王，Mega 暴鲤龙对轰也吃力，作者选择在对方龙舞回合直接彻底光线自杀省去博弈。Build article →

The author streams monotype teams and picks one type per season; this was Steel. He based it on a top Steel monotype player's matchup core of Archaludon, Aegislash and Skarmory, then reworked the other three slots step by step: first special walls so he could pivot rather than only trade, then a fire-resist Berry physically defensive Corviknight because Skarmory bleeds HP to Brave Bird and can't hold Fighting-types. When Hippowdon plus Dragonite plus Aegislash exploded mid-season, Bastiodon — which Aegislash could set up on — was cut for specially defensive Leftovers Empoleon, which has a job against all three; finally Hisuian Goodra, by then too niche, became Choice Scarf Excadrill. A Steel monotype pulls opposing Archaludon, Aegislash and Gholdengo out constantly, and opponents love switching the latter two in to set up, so Focus Sash near-max-Speed Aegislash that one-shots them from aBuild article →

The author only plays matchup-based teams, so they took a streamer's published six, swapped Choice Scarf Hydreigon for Choice Scarf Garchomp and Aegislash for Greninja, and ran that. Mega Kangaskhan is the whole point: it appears in about 80 percent of games and leads in 90 percent of those, its Fake Out plus Sucker Punch coverage is huge, and the usual pattern is to eat one hit and win the exchange off a Body Slam paralysis. Primarina is tuned to win the mirror on Speed and can set up Calm Mind, break through the opposing Primarina with 60 percent HP left, and also handles Hippowdon, Corviknight and Umbreon; Garchomp provides raw Speed, Life Orb max Special Attack Greninja forces tempo, Mega Charizard X breaks defensive cycles with Swords Dance, and Hippowdon adds Stealth Rock and Whirlwind. The author is blunt that Stamina Archaludon is Kangaskhan's natural predator, and that late-seasBuild article →

The concept carries over from last season: take a numbers lead with the Mega lead, then close with two strong one-on-one Pokemon, and since Mimikyu and Kingambit are the best at that, the whole team is built so those two have good matchups. He never once wanted to change Mega Blastoise — Mirror Coat is the trick, since attacks opponents assume are lethal (max Special Attack Mega Dragonite's Thunderbolt only does 59-70 percent) get eaten and returned. Mega Victreebel is the team's face and pairs perfectly with Blastoise, while Life Orb Mimikyu went Jolly on the final day so it outruns neutral-natured Mega Dragonite and stops losing Life Orb turns to Roost from above. Focus Sash Kingambit carries Guillotine and Metal Burst; he argues Guillotine turns a 0 percent line into 30, and that occasionally stealing a game with it meaningfully lightens the mental load of a long ladder grind, while oBuild article →

Aegislash numbers rose mid-season, so he wanted a team that beat it reliably and started from Swords Dance Earthquake Mega Lucario. Anything faster than Lucario shuts the Swords Dance down, so he needed a way to restrict opposing movement and picked Araquanid, which almost nobody was preparing for, with Mimikyu behind to hold the fort once Lucario went down. Laddering exposed three problems: Araquanid rarely did its job, Gyarados was crushing, and Aegislash actually wasn't brought that often, leaving Earthquake dead. Araquanid became the popular four-attack Glimmora, which synergises brilliantly with Mega Dragonite, and once he had Toxic Spikes he wanted to poison things to death, so Mimikyu became bulky Protect Sylveon — Toxic Spikes plus Dragonite plus Sylveon turned out absurd. Lucario's Earthquake became Stone Edge so Gyarados can't casually Dragon Dance in front of it, and Swords DaBuild article →

Stuck around 1900 to 2100 mid-season, the author went looking for something that felt good and settled on Mega Lopunny for the reliability of its moves. Female Basculegion came second as a switch-in to the Hippowdon and Skeledirge that Lopunny cannot chew through, and it also pressures the back line; Life Orb Mimikyu came third to cut Dragon coverage while Disguise guarantees a turn. Focus Sash Espathra was added for Glimmora and Clefable, Vivillon uses Sleep Powder to grind down annoying walls like Umbreon and Sylveon, and Mega Abomasnow went in half as a joke but the snow Defense boost let it eat Close Combat from Mega Lopunny and Staraptor and beat Gyarados and Mimikyu reliably, so it stayed to the last day. The author says male Basculegion is the worst matchup since only Mimikyu and Abomasnow beat it head-on, with both Charizard formes, Hisuian Samurott and Blaziken also difficult.Build article →

Two months into the format, he judged that Archaludon plus Mamoswine plus max-Speed Mega Charizard X matched up well against the popular Meowscarada, Aegislash and Mega Dragonite core, and made those three his axis from the start of the season. That trio couldn't handle Stealth Rock plus Mega Gyarados setups, so he added physically defensive Trick Room Mimikyu to stop Mega Gyarados, and alongside it Mystic Water Primarina as a Trick Room ace that is also strong into Hippowdon, then the format's best Pokemon. Mega Starmie filled the last slot to cover Mega Venusaur and Skeledirge. The team aims to be strong at trading, at reversing, and at breaking: his main three all hit hard, and even in losing matchups Mamoswine's Endeavor and Archaludon's Metal Burst force a one-for-one so he rarely falls behind on numbers. Baton Pass is handled by Mimikyu's Curse, and Stealth Rock plus Mega Gyarados Build article →

The author saw someone succeed with a Hippowdon plus Primarina plus one Mega skeleton, tried a range of Megas in that shell, and found Pinsir felt best. Hippowdon is the standard Stealth Rock, Yawn and Whirlwind set, later shifted toward Special Defense to take Dragonite's Air Slash and Draco Meteor and Primarina's water moves. Primarina moved to a Lum Berry with Surf instead of Sparkling Aria, since Leftovers kept it out of Torrent range and Corviknight needed the Leftovers more. Mega Pinsir is overwhelming once Stealth Rock is up and it gets a Swords Dance, but it always struggled with Garchomp and Hippowdon, which is exactly why Corviknight was added — it is absurdly strong against Hippowdon without Whirlwind and against bulky Garchomp plus Sylveon, and the author calls it the season's real winner. Scovillain runs Substitute and Endeavor and barely lost to gimmick teams, while MeowscaBuild article →

His diagnosis for why he'd been losing was that the aggressive setup and matchup teams he prefers can never escape the team-preview coin flip, and this game has no comeback mechanic to bail him out. What he wanted was to minimise that coin flip, use chip damage and debuffs to cut out pointless in-game prediction, and pair those with recovery for staying power. He borrowed someone else's team that fit, found the Toxic Spikes plus Staraptor pairing outstanding, and rebuilt around it. The original hazard setter was Focus Sash Meowscarada, too frail to participate in cycles, so he took Overqwil from another article instead: Intimidate as a debuff, coverage for the Fairy, Ghost and Psychic types Staraptor hates, and Toxic as a breaking tool. Mega Delphox is the second Mega but built unconventionally with Will-O-Wisp, Magical Flame and Wish for longevity, and Substitute plus Protect ArchaludonBuild article →

Stuck at 1700-1800 with a Baton Pass Clefable setup team mid-season, the author decided setup wasn't for him and switched to a bulky pivot core. He had long wanted Poison Touch Sneasler, so he paired it with the proven physically defensive Corviknight and specially defensive Bellibolt, took Fake Out Mega Lopunny as a Mega that fits pivoting, added Life Orb Basculegion to punish the Ground-types Bellibolt invites, and finished with Mega Victreebel to block setup. He raves about how much work Fake Out does — chip damage, scouting bulk, breaking Focus Sash, burning screen and weather turns, buying poison ticks — to the point that he even Fake Outs a lead Archaludon to scout its set, while Corviknight's Pressure stalls single-move Overqwil and stall teams to a draw so he never loses rating, and Choice Scarf Sneasler's surprise Throat Chop on Delphox and Gengar alone justified its slot. MetagBuild article →

With Light Clay unbanned the author wanted a screens plus Baton Pass team, and picked Sableye over Grimmsnarl and Alolan Ninetales as the setter because its typing blanks both Psychic Fangs and Brick Break, it has Encore to shut down setup, and Fairy is its only weakness. Scolipede got the passing slot as the only Speed Boost passer that also learns Iron Defense, absorbs Toxic Spikes and has good resistances. The plan is Sableye screens, Scolipede stacks Iron Defense and Speed Boost behind a Substitute and passes, then any of the four receivers sweeps — Clefable is the real ace, since Magic Guard blanks Curse, Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes and Leech Seed, while Mega Garchomp's Swords Dance Earthquake usually kills physically defensive Hippowdon and Corviknight can't switch in either. His blacklist is Perish Song Gengar and Primarina, Haze Milotic and Toxapex, and Roar or Whirlwind HippowdonBuild article →

The author has run a Mega Charizard X plus Primarina core for several seasons purely because he loves Charizard X, and kept it going here, copying an M-3 top-cut article that fit Garchomp and Archaludon around the same axis, then adding Meowscarada for Basculegion and Gyarados and Lucario for Clefable, Umbreon and Sylveon. His standard three are Garchomp, Primarina and Charizard, with the Charizard slot often becoming Archaludon instead; the highlight of his season was one-shotting a Sitrus Berry Garchomp that stayed in expecting the Y set. Primarina is deliberately built minimum Speed so it moves after Aegislash, and Misty Terrain is there so he can switch it into Hippowdon with confidence. His problem matchups are Focus Sash and max-Speed Choice Scarf Garchomp, which stop Charizard even after a Dragon Dance, plus screens and Baton Pass teams and Trick Room Basculegion, and he admits thBuild article →

After trying Dragonite plus Aegislash and Metagross plus Hydreigon cores without much success, the author noticed Metagross and Hippowdon rising and simply brought back a team from an earlier season to grind out reps with it. Mega Scizor is the axis, strong against the common Steel and Fairy types and Meowscarada; its coverage slot is Knock Off, which hits Metagross, Aegislash and Basculegion while stripping items, and Roost is there so it can pivot repeatedly against Floette. Garchomp runs Sitrus with Stealth Rock and Dragon Tail specifically to refuse Baton Pass setups from Blaziken and Scolipede and Shell Smash Blastoise. Wash Rotom is the wallbreaker with Nasty Plot and Rest, turning Hippowdon and Umbreon's Yawn and Toxapex's Toxic into free setup. Mega Floette is the second Mega, exploiting how many teams leave all their Fairy checking to a single Steel, and Volcarona clears Steels Build article →

作者的出发点就是"想把Mega快龙用强"，围绕它搭起这套毒菱展开队。Mega快龙走特殊准速配置（羽栖+流星群+空气斩+十万伏特），速度线卡在超越准速谜拟丘和铝钢桥龙、晶光花上，靠多重鳞片和羽栖赚残伤，把对手压进斩杀线。首发几乎固定魔幻假面喵，用气势披带撑住一回，靠毒菱铺场再用绝招花或拍落制造节奏，是全队的开关。Mega火焰鸡拿来补打击面并靠加速兜住速度线，烈咬陆鲨吃缄默果+替身+剑舞专抓河马兽/超坏星做逆起点。最终日临时换上的物特耐西狮海壬（冥想+睡觉+朗德之果）救了队，专门解决河马兽、仙子伊布、月亮伊布、铝钢桥龙这些原本很烦的对手；坚盾剑怪替下仆刀将军后能稳接Mega花叶蒂，配合国王盾牌吃毒伤，胜率暴涨。作者自评短板是暴鲤龙、皮可西、Mega快龙镜像、袋兽都很吃紧，快龙没有隐形岩和三重轴、火焰鸡没带剑舞导致对受队破盘手段偏弱。Build article →