It is I, the number 1 Scovillain player, Master of Sun, and Future showdown staff member (maybe...). Anyways, I am here to show you guys my Scovillain team that got me to 1800.
I already did a Scovillain Sun team here in the Bazaar, but that was way back when Walking Wake was allowed, and the tier has shifted drastically since then, so i made some changes.
proof of evidence:
(Great gxe am i right?)
The main man itself, the reason that got me to maining sun this gen. The overall goal is try to find an opening where Scovillain can get in, and if the opponent doesn't have anything that can handle it, like Heatran for example, start blastin'. I run Fire Blast for the extra firepower, but the risk of missing can haunt at times, so Flamethrower is a safer but slightly weaker alternative. Giga Drain grants us longevity, and while Scovillain does die to a sneeze, that longevity can be crucial in some situations, especially since its weak to rocks and has a Life Orb attached. Stomping Tantrum is mainy here for Heatran thinking it was safe to switch into a Fire Blast. And Growth can be devastating if we manage to grab a boost, as you get an Swords Dance and a Nasty Plot up under sun.
Not much has change, its mainly here for sun and to set up rocks. It does however, help a lot vs Sneasler, since its tanky enough to survive a +2 Close Combat and ruin it in return with either a Lava Plume burn or a Yawn should Electric Terrain not be up (altough this can fail if Sneasler gets Dire Claw rng.) Body Press also helps against Tyranitar, which can admitingly be a nuisance for us.
Again, I dont have to explain a lot with this one. Great Tusk is a solid Sun abuser that also brings utility to the table in the form of Rapid Spin. I did however, gave it Icium Z, as it can allow it to nuke certain mons like Zapdos and Tera Grass Heatran.
This was my latest installment to the team, and boy was it a good one. Previoulsy I was running Blaziken since it played similarly to Heartflame Ogerpon which got banned, but Blaziken wasn't quite doing it for me, as for whatever reason, Skeledirge gave me a lot of trouble. So I decided to experiment with it, and the results were positive. This thing, is a NUKE under sun, and i mean an nuclear bomb type ala Hiroshima. After a +2 you easily 2hko mons like Blissey and Toxapex under sun, that is absurd. Dark Pulse hits neutral Targets like Toxapex and Heatran. Nasty Plot for absolute savagery, and my last option i decided to run was Flame Charge. Since Flamethrower and Dark Pulse already cover a huge portion, I also experimented with this move, and whle I do not click it much since Mega Houndoom is already decently fast, it has save me games. After a +1 speed, you outseep Scarfers like Lando, Lele and Kartana. Sure, it usually dies rather quickly, but it usually gets the job done, and manages to break holes on the enemy team for Scovillain and friends to pick up.
Tapu Lele has proven to be an amazing mon for this team. Its Psychic Terrain helps a lot with two issues, 1. Scovillain's vulnerability to priority, and 2. Helps with the standard Koko Screens HO matchup. Since most if not all Koko Screens run Snealer, Lele can help preventing it to activatr Unburden. It also helps with some teams packing Rilla + Snealser, which is easier due to Rillaboom matching poorly against Sun. Future Sight can also put a lot if pressure on the opponent when played at its strenght. Psyshock was my other psychic move of choice to hit Mega Charizard Y harder, as well as Chansey and Blissey, who have risen with the resurrection of stall in the meta. And Hp Fire is solid to use under sun, which allows it to destroy Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn.
A great utility pivot mon. Its typing and bulk lets it stuff attacks and pivot into a sun abuser. Hydro Pump is mainly great to use in the rain matchup, as it can douse Zapdos and Mega Swampert. Pain Split is here for a form of longevity, and Defog in order to handle hazards, which is now much easier with Gholdengo no longer around.
Quick Tips on how to use it:
This team is pretty straightfoward, you want to set Sun as the field condition to then wreck havoc. Most of the time, you wanna lead Torkoal, and try to pivot around the opponent, ending on either Scovillain or Mega Houndoom to then do your play. In some cases, you may want to switch things up a bit, depending on what the opponent may have. The first big assault you try to bring in is Mega Houndoom, as its pretty difficult to witstand is high damage output, it's also fine if Mega Houndoom faints, just as long as you manage to get rid of a mon or two that could've been a roadblock. Scovillain is usually the cleaner, after the team has done enough damage to the opponent where it can then pick the pieces. And while the team maybe not be the bulkiest thing ever you do have some switchins depending on sitations, Great Tusk can switch into an Electric move on the right time and potentially do something from there, and Tapu Lele can come in on expected priority moves, modt notably Meha Lopunny's Fake Out, and Greninja's Water Shuriken, allowing you to grab momentum.
Matchups:
Rain: (Good)
This one is actually ptetty golden. You do have to try and use Tera Water on torkoal to have a better chance, but u usually win this matchup. Its all about who keeps their setter alive, and Rotom Wash helps us greatly, if they switch into Mega Swampert to prevent the Volt Switch, they usually lose to 1v1, if they go Ferrothorn, we simply bring Torkoal and force progress on Pelipper. Also 1 thing that i see people dont notice, but Scovillain ohkos Pelipper after a +1 after Stealth Rock, and around 90% of the players lose to this one interraction, and thus lose the game outright. The one expection that I do find problematic is Manaphy on Rain, as that thing is brutal, and can be problematic if not handled pronto. But most Rain players don't use Manaphy, for whatever reason, they prefer Greninja instead.
Hyper Offense: (Even)
This one can vary, if its the Grimmsnarl one its usually no biggie. If its the Koko one however, it can be tricky to manage. You do have to be carefull navigating your way against this team, but you mainly wanna keep an eye out for Sneasler. If that thing gets in under the right circumstances, it can be game over for us. One way to play around is keeping Tapu Lele around, as it can disrupt Koko's Terrain, thus not triggering Electric Seed on Sneasler. It can also prevent Iron Valiant from gaining a +1 speed boost, which could also be problematic. Other than that, your only other solution to handle Snealser is Torkoal, and it also needs to be in good shape to sponge a hit from it and also pray that it doesnt get lucky with Dire Claw rng. Do thankfully, most of the time i been lucky to not get hit by said shinenigans, or they just try and hit with Close Combat or Tera Flying Acrobatics. If terrain is down, you can get a free Yawn on Sneasler and put them on a headscratching situation. Overall it can be difficult but duable.
Stall: (Good)
Stall can be problematic, but if played well, you should be fine against it. As both Scovillain and Mega Houndoom can melt threw their defenses under the sun if played properly. The hardest part here is bringing them in perfect shape. As a simple Toxic can potentially turn the whole thing around. The lack of steel or poison is also a bit of a nuissance (Venusar be looking at me like: I told you so) meaning that something is going to take the poison, and you dont want those to be your wincon, especially sine they also take chip damage themselves. But if you manage to play your chips right, you can easily destroy their team without them being able to do much.
Webs: (Good)
Webs arent that much of a problem anymore, considering that Defoging is a breeze now. However, don't sleep on a haystack yet, cuz mons on Web teams can pack a punch. They also have a few mons that can paralyze like Serperior to have more speed control. You also wanna make sure not to get punished by Defoging on a Serperior or Galarian Zapdos, as you may regret it later. Other than that, simply playing around the webs until you find the right time to remove them and you should be set.
Trick Room: (Bad)
If you know me on showdown, you may probably heard of my hatrid towards Trick Room, and this is mainly why. If you see a Hatterene, an Alolan Marowak, and an Ursaluna, simply forfeit, cuz the only you win this is that the opponent is trash or insane luck. Once under the Trick Room condition, your entire team minus Torkoal is now moving last, an considering the team isnt very bulky, thats likely 1-2 mons lost right there, an if they manage to get Trick Room consistently, and keep their sluggers alive, you are not winning this. (This is why Melmetal should never return)
Psychicspam: (Even to Slightly Bad)
This one can be tricky just like HO, infact i think it may be worse as they have Sneasler alongsode Lele, meaning we cant use our own Lele to disrupt Snealser's Unburden. They also have strong mons like Polteageist, Hatterene, Tapu Lele and more that are pretty lethal as well. Mega Houndoom can help somewhat due to its Dark typing, but he is rather frail so it isnt iron clad. The best way to beat it is to just outoffense it, which is pretty possible due to our sheer power. (Also keeping Torkoal around for the Sneasler jumpscare)
Snow: (Freebie)
Yeah, Snow just sucks now that Bax is gone, as you only have Arctozolt to abuse Snow with, and imo Kyurem aint a replacement for Bax, at least not its SD + Scal Shot set. But even when Bax was running around, it was still a super good matchup. For one, Sun can easily help us disrupt Aurora Veil attempts from Alolan Ninetales. And it being weak to rocks means we can just lay them down and start the pressure. And for Bax we simplt bring Torkoal and force a Yawn on it. And even a +1 Speed Bax wasnt gonna outspeed Scovillain under sun. Yeah this one is a freebie.
Some mons u may need to lookout for:
Many people consider this poke to be sun's mortal enemy. Thanks to Flash Fire, it makes it difficult to soam Fire moves without regretting it later. What makes this worse is Tera Grass, as it now has a type that actually matches pretty well against us since its a grass type immune to Fire. Luckily we do have Icium Z on Great Tusk to handle it, and Washtom can wear it down initially, but it can still be tricky to get around since Great Tusk isnt switchin in directly.
Tapu Lele can be problematic due to us having lil to no resist to its stab combo. Plus most of the time its a Scarfer, meaning that it can outspeed all our team minus our own Lele and Scovillain under sun. There will even be situations you might need to sac a mon just to get Scovillain in and tread it out.
The reason why this can be difficult is pretty straightfoward, Sand. And while Sand teams themselves arent performing so well, Ttar and especially Mega Ttar is doing alright. And compare to the othwr weathers, this one is the most complicated for me to handle, but certainly not impossible. Your best options to take it out are Torkoal and Great Tusk. Torkoal doesnt want to switch into it cuz it could eat an Earthquake or a Stone Edge, and Ttar isn't sticking around in the Face of Great tusk. If they manage to keep their Ttar around, it can usually come in and disrupt our momentum pretty easily. But if you manage to get rid of it, youre usually fine after that, unless its too late and u lost your wincons along the way.
I kind of already explain this on the HO matchup section, but i do consider this quite problematic not just for my team, but in the meta in general. Most if not all offensive teams tend to lose to this thing quite easily. Unmatched speed, amazing Stab Combo, great 130 attack, and an annoying sig that could make things go south.
Similar to Ttar, Slowking can disrupt our weather condition pretty easily thanks to Chilly Reception (Imagine if we had a move ala Baton Pass that sets sun instead). However, I find Galar Slowking even harder to deal with thanks to Regenerator. Its already quite bulky, but having to try and keep this thing down everytime it heals up by just switching in it's a pretty tall task. It also doesn't help that it can set Future Sight on us pretty reliably, putting us under even more pressure. The best way to get rid of this mon are with Great Tusk and Mega Houndoom, as you can force it out without triggering Chilly Reception, and it either sack Glowking, force it to tera, or just switchout with risk.
This one can be difficult to switch into since it can melt our team rather badly if not played careful. Do we have some ways to get around it, 1. Rotom wash is ev'd to live a Solar Beam, albeit needs to be in good conditions to do so, so we can grab a Volt Switch and deal massive chunks to it while bringing in a mon to take it out. 2. Flash Fire from base Houndoom can flip the script on Yard. And 3. Stealth rocks, if we manage to put pressure of the team, it can difficult for yard to switch in without losing half its health.
Replays:
Vs rain:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-1992007643-v0jyv5zkhn3p93yiotplp46cbv247mcpw
Vs a Lele + Sneasler BO:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-1993628574?p2
Vs stall (the game that got me to 1800):
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-1993641286-jrffd3bph99mraol1fz69cvhv56sj8apw
Overall, i am really proud of the results i had with this team on the ladder, especially since i manage to get even higher that when i climed with Walking Wake in the past, and all with my boy Scovillain
