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Dharma

komorebi
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Here goes nothing.
Monotype is a rapidly growing Other Metagame on Smogon. Don't let the name fool you though—Monotype features a diverse set of team archetypes that lead to a really competitive metagame! We're sure that most of you have considered, if not tried, making a Monotype team, inspired by your favorite gym leaders. After all, who needs type diversity when you can just have six Dragon types, right? However, there is much more to building and succeeding in the Monotype metagame than just clicking Outrage to win. In this Trainer Tip, we're going to give you some important tips to keep in mind when building your own Monotype team.

One of the most important things to take into account when building a Monotype team is that most, if not all, of your team is gonna be weak to a couple of types. This is where secondary typings and abilities come into play. Pokemon such as Skarmory and Heatran are considered as staples on any Steel team because of their immunities to Ground- and Fire-type attacks, respectively. Similarly, Sableye is one of the best Pokemon to have on a Dark team because it is immune to Fighting-type attacks and takes neutral damage from Bug-type attacks. The entire essence of Monotype teambuilding is crafting a team that handles as many weaknesses as possible, while still tackling other prominent team archetypes in the metagame.

The second part of building a Monotype team is the playstyle that you are aiming for. Stall, Balanced and Hyper Offensive are entirely different from each other, and certain types are known for epitomizing a certain playstyle. For example, Water or Flying teams can facilitate a Stall build because they have access to Pokemon that can reliably address their shared weaknesses. Conversely, a Fighting team is typically geared toward offense because of all the fast, powerful attackers that are Fighting type. However, most Monotype teams are balanced or bulky offense. In general, one must explore every possible option when building a team. What does a particular Pokemon do for the team? What types does it help me against? What weaknesses does it add? Is it worth having? Such questions must be asked to yourself.

Hazards are another thing that play a huge difference in a game, even more than in standard tiers. With some teams altogether getting destroyed by certain hazards, keeping them on the field or getting them off can be the difference between a win and a loss. For example, Flying-type teams often run two Pokemon with Defog to ensure they never have Stealth Rock on their side of the field.

Then there is something that is seen in the metagame way too often—Choice Scarf users. With teams having a shared weakness, Choice Scarf abusers are very common, and for good reason. Said users have been proven to win both games and hearts, turning a bad matchup into a manageable one. Some of the prominent Choice Scarf users in the metagame are Heracross, Terrakion, Hoopa-Unbound, and Victini, each being able to handle their team's weaknesses in one way or another.

Through the time since Monotype's introduction, certain cores have proven to be extremely efficient at handling the threats that their type faces. Any team one builds must be prepared to break through these cores. The Immunity Core on Steel is one of them, consisting of Skarmory, Heatran and Doublade. Other prominent examples include: the Eviolite Core on Normal, consisting of Chansey, Porygon2, and Staraptor, the Sableye Core on Dark, consisting of Sableye, Tyranitar, and Mandibuzz, and the SkarmDos core on Flying, which consists of Skarmory and Zapdos. Each of these cores are capable of destroying an unprepared Monotype trainer, so make sure your team is ready to break them!

Did you learn something new? Which types are you eager to try out now? Let us know in the comments down below.

Thanks to scpinion for looking this over.
 
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