Other Sacred Eons - A Smogon Triples Squad

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Hello, Exodus Latios here! I'm honestly just posting this team for the sake of posting a RMT. I've been thinking of many different ways to get into the Triples metagame. It has a vast amount of strategies, different viable Pokemon and strategies, and cool little "gimmicks" or tricks you can pull off. This could range from Huge Power Slaking to Intimidate cores, but that isn't what this team is about. My team revolves around giving Gardevoir opportunities to pick up Knock- Outs. The team packs Rage Powder support, a Spore user, a Fake Out user, a Taunt and Snarl user and even a Tailwind user. This just shows how much this team is based around Gardevoir. In fact, I came up with this team whilst thinking of a Gardevoir set in Triples. Some may say it is outclassed by Specs Sylveon in terms of power and bulk, but in mostly everything else it doesn't. This includes utility options and its higher speed. That alone allows Gardevoir to stand out from the likes of Sylveon.

Ah yes, this is my first Pokemon. There isn't much to explain about your first team member, but I chose Gardevoir for a reason. I never really use it in OU, so I decided to try it out in triples. I thought in my mind "What set could truly make her work in this format?" I brainstormed, found a set and built around it to find some useful teammates.

Amoonguss is a very useful member here. It allows me to take on rain teams easier, as it can soak up (pun not intended) some hits. Also, it packs Spore and Rage Powder. Those two moves support this whole team heavily, putting threats to sleep or redirecting powerful moves. I have to be aware of the Safety Goggles users though.

Aegislash is such a wonderful Pokemon. Too bad it's banned from OU!! It is allowed in Smogon Triples and it benefits my team a lot. As you can probably tell, my team is pretty weak to the EQ + Rock Slide combo, but Aegislash has access to Wide Guard which can help out against that quite a bit.

Liepard is a really cool Pokemon in general. It has great utility in Prankster, Fake Out, Taunt and other moves such as Thunder Wave or Snarl.

Suicune plays the role as the Tailwind user. Because my Gardevoir isn't running max speed, this can be extremely helpful. If I'm looking for a certain outspeed, I'll just tailwind to double my speed which'll allow me to get that outspeed!

Talonflame is a beast. However it is very prone to common moves like Quick Guard or Rock Slide. And considering this is my other main attacker, that isn't too good. However it does get priority Tailwind and packs a decent attack.

*Note that I'll more than likely add in slashes (/) next to my move, item, nature, etc. This is just in case you want to test this team. Also, I will not be explaining Protect!

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Eons (Gardevoir) @ Gardevoirite

Ability: Trace
EVs: 4 HP / 248 Def / 108 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave
- Protect​

This is the star of the team. It has great utility options, excellent power and decent bulk all in one. The main purpose of this Gardevoir is to take hits and dish out lots of damage, acting similarly to a Bulky Attacker. The EV spread of 4 HP / 248 Def / 108 Spe Modest Nature allows Gardevoir to outspeed Jolly Bisharp by 1 point and it can live one Iron Head on 1 and then follow up with a Hyper Voice which OHKOs with a Modest Nature. It can also act as a stallbreaker in some ways, as it has access to the ever- so useful Taunt.

Hyper Voice

- Hyper Voice is Gardevoir's primary STAB. It hits a very powerful 117 Base Power (Pixilate Boost) and hits all of the foes on the opposing side, as it is a spread move. This is likely the main move you'll be using with Gardevoir.

Taunt

- Taunt allows Gardevoir to catch Trick Room users off guard and just ruining their set up. Not only that, but it catch set up sweepers or stally Pokemon off- guard when they try to do what they do (set up, status / heal).

Will-O-Wisp

/ Thunder Wave

- Will-O-Wisp can cripple physical attackers, halving their attack and taking off damage over time. Thunder Wave offers speed control in case you can't OHKO certain threats or to just hinder set up sweepers.​

Grudge (Amoonguss) @ Sitrus Berry

Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Rage Powder
- Spore
- Protect
- Giga Drain

Amoonguss gives the team Rage Powder and Spore, which is very beneficial in the Triples metagame. If I fear a powerful attack coming someone's way, most of the time Amoonguss can step in the bat and redirect it to it. It has decent bulk and a good ability in Regenerator.

Rage Powder

- As stated above, Rage Powder allows Amoonguss to redirect attacks its way. However Safety Goggle's users don't even care about that, so I'll have to be careful.

Spore

- Spore is pretty much mandatory on any Amoonguss set, be it singles, doubles triples or even rotations. It's just a great move, as it allows Amoonguss to put an opponent to sleep. In Smogon Triples, you can put more than 1 Pokemon to sleep so that's even better!

Giga Drain

- Giga Drain gives it some sort of attack. It provides some sort of recovery, but it's only truly effective when it hits for super effective damage.

Sacred (Aegislash) @ Weakness Policy

/ Colbur Berry

Ability: Stance Change
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest / Quiet Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon / Sacred Sword
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield

Aegislash + Gardevoir gives this team the name of Sacred Eons (the nicknames). They also work together greatly. Aegislash provides Wide Guard in case of those annoying EQ + Rock Slide teams, king's shield if anticipating a physical attack coming my way and a useful dual STAB.

Shadow Ball

- Shadow Ball is Aegislash's STAB move, along with Flash Cannon. It can hit Landorus-Therian for good damage, so it won't be switching in any time soon. It can also hurt other Aegislash.

Flash Cannon

/ Sacred Sword

- Flash Cannon is my second STAB option, which can hit Hydreigon hard. Sacred Sword gets it as well, as well as Bisharp which can be helpful in case I am looking to beat it. That is where the Colbur Berry comes into play.

Wide Guard

- Wide Guard allows me to take on the wide- spread move gimmicks easier, as my whole team becomes immune to all spread moves for that turn (so no EQ + Rock Slide or Discharge spam).

Trustworthy (Liepard) @ Mental Herb

Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Fake Out
- Snarl / Protect / Sucker Punch / Fake Tears / Helping Hand
- Knock Off / Sucker Punch

Liepard is a cool cat. It has a good ability, decent attack and great utility moves to accommodate for that Prankster ability. Since it is sort of Taunt bait, I put in a Mental Herb to help patch that weakness slightly. Maximum speed lets it hit an extremely solid 342 speed. Why does this not get helping hand???

Taunt

- Taunt is a great move. It functions similar to how Mega Gardevoir's does, just ruining set ups and all of that. It is prone to the obligatory Quick Guard thanks to Prankster.

Fake Out

- Fake Out gives my other Pokemon a chance to attack "freely." A lot of the time, I'll target the primary threat, such as a set up sweeper. This way my other Pokemon can attack it and damage it some before taking it out.

Snarl

/ Sucker Punch

/ Fake Tears

- Snarl allows me to weaken special attackers. It's a spread move, so it'll affect every single Pokemon on the other side. Sucker Punch is great in conjunction with Taunt, as it'll force an opponent to attack and Sucker Punch always hits if they attack. Fake Tears can lower a target's SpDef by 2, which can allow Gardevoir to hit an opponent harder than before.
Knock Off

- Knock Off has great utility, being able to remove an opponent's item while dishing out a good amount of damage. Not to mention that its STAB on Liepard, so it'll be doing quite some damage.

Divine (Suicune) @ Leftovers

/ Sitrus Berry

Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Bold Nature
- Tailwind
- Scald
- Protect
- Snarl

Suicune is a very cool Pokemon in Triples. It has Snarl support, Scald and even Tailwind. All of that is slapped onto a Pokemon with exceptional bulk and a good defensive typing. It is rather slow though, and without much special attack investment it is rather weak.

Tailwind

- Tailwind is such a great move. It doubles your whole team's speed. This mainly benefits the likes of Gardevoir, as I am not running max speed. It can help other members, yes, but I find it to help my Gardevoir the most.

Scald

- Scald has a 30% chance to burn an opponent. In Pokemon language, that's an 80% chance! No really, it burns almost all of the time, whether you want it to or not. It also gives Suicune some form of STAB, but it really only does real damage when it hits super effectively; similarly to Amoonguss' Giga Drain.

Snarl

- "Snarl allows me to weaken special attackers. It's a spread move, so it'll affect every single Pokemon on the other side."

Soul (Talonflame) @ Life Orb

/ Apicot Berry

Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz / Natural Gift / Snatch / Quick Guard
- Tailwind
- Protect

Talonflame is my final member. It brings my team support and packs a punch. However like Liepard, it makes my team sort of weak to Quick Guard users. If you chose Flare Blitz, I would go for a Jolly Nature for Thundurus. If you chose Natural Gift, I would just go Adamant as your only real way to hit Thundurus would be Brave Bird. Apicot Berry + Natural Gift = a 100 BP Ground type move and what it is for is rather obvious.

Brave Bird

- Brave Bird has priority thanks to Gale Wings. That's why Talonflame is used so much in the first place. However because of that Quick Guard users can block it, which could be big in some cases.

Flare Blitz

/ Natural Gift

/ Snatch

/ Quick Guard

- Flare Blitz gives Talonflame a viable secondary STAB option specifically for the likes of Thundurus, as it hits for neutral damage. Natural Gift should only be used when holding an Apicot Berry, and it is used to hit Heatran. Snatch can be useful in case an opponent tries to Tailwind up, in which case I can take that tailwind boost and use it for myself. Quick Guard is useful for other Talonflame or any other priority users.

Tailwind

- "Tailwind is such a great move. It doubles your whole team's speed. This mainly benefits the likes of Gardevoir, as I am not running max speed. It can help other members, yes, but I find it to help my Gardevoir the most. "

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogontriples-259476815 - vs. Standard OU Team

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogontriples-259479616 - vs. Mono Fire

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogontriples-259482189 - vs. Standard OU Team (Forfeit)

Quick Guard & Wide Guard Users - Talonflame and Liepard are used on this team for their priority, which can be taken away by Quick Guard users. Gardevoir's main attack is Hyper Voice, which Wide Guard completely ignores.

Sun Teams - Sun Teams prove to be pretty threatening to this team. Charizard Y alone can hit everything on the team, and with the support of Pokemon like Heatran it gets even harder to handle.

Rain Teams - Okay, just call me weak to weather teams, okay? I've been bodied by most rain teams, because of my lack of checks. Perhaps I could consider Thundurus over Liepard to help out slightly?

Importable

Eons (Gardevoir) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 4 HP / 248 Def / 108 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave
- Protect

Grudge (Amoonguss) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Rage Powder
- Spore
- Protect
- Giga Drain

Sacred (Aegislash) @ Weakness Policy / Colbur Berry
Ability: Stance Change
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest / Quiet Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon / Sacred Sword
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield

Trustworthy (Liepard) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Fake Out
- Snarl / Sucker Punch / Fake Tears
- Knock Off

Divine (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Bold Nature
- Tailwind
- Scald
- Protect
- Snarl

Soul (Talonflame) @ Life Orb / Apicot Berry
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz / Natural Gift / Snatch / Quick Guard
- Tailwind
- Protect

Shoutouts :)

red liek a fiddel - Cool cat, I bet he read this team like a fiddle to be honest.

AD impish john Johnny Test is the best anime. In all seriousness, he's a cool dude! :D

Torterrable Your sun OU teams are good, you should start making Sun Triples teams. ;)

AllAttack Hiya, AA! You should be next CT driver imo.

Shoutouts to all the users trying to get themselves a RMT badge, good luck! And shoutouts to all that already have one, you're awesome!

And that is all! If you read this, you're awesome. I'd be surprised myself if any user were to rate this team, as Smogon Triples isn't a metagame that gets a lot of attention so I'd be surprised to see if many users have knowledge on the tier (such as common threats, sets, etc.). Of course, you could be that guy and just use the viability rankings, haha. I hope you all liked the team, as it took me a while to get this whole RMT done!

- Sacred Eons​

 

[Yellow Paint]

Your garde is missing some evs, no?

Besides that, I'd suggest encore on liepard over one of your many slashes. There's generally less switching in triples compared to doubles, and for good reason, so reversing momentum is all the more important.

edit: that wasn't very clear. What I meant was you can encore on tects, speed control, fake out, or inopportune moves to force switches and bring back momentum for yourself. Even the threat of encore may force the opponent to make less optimal plays, but that's not something to rely on against the ladder.

Also, ally switch garde. It's quite a neat move for protecting an ally while still allowing them to move, as an unexpected play, or for protecting garde while not being forced to switch it out and in again. What's notable about ally switch over the shift option is +1 priority, which can let garde take a keld sword or any non aegi special hit before it'd normally get to move.