The eel
The eel
The eel
It’s eelektross team breakdown time!
Hit 1800s with this team recently (yes i know it’s not that high but i hit like 1790+ like 3 separate times before going on a huge losing streak so i’m still proud of it)
Anywho, here is the team and the stats for anyone wondering
This is my attempt at tailroom, a strategy combining trick room and tailwind to have a speed sandwich where you can go different modes to counter your opponent’s speed tiers
It also ended up being all special attackers, which wasn’t intended but is a fun coincidence that has some positives (and negatives)
First, let’s look at the mons
We start off with the star of the show, the eel itself: Eelektross! When you look at it’s stats, it’s kinda mid, it has a middling speed tier with good offenses but split between both sides of the attacking spectrum, which leaves it with not much stats for it’s bulk. However, this is quite decieving, as it’s an electric type that is immune to ground, so that gives it a deceptive amount of staying power, and with it’s brand new ability: Eelevate, any ko it takes lets it boost it’s highest stat, which would usually be it’s main attacking stat. This gives Eelektross decent staying power and potential to snowball and become a serious threat. The moves i opted for were Thunderbolt for STAB, and Flamethrower and Giga drain for coverage, with Protect for repositioning. Giga Drain is mainly for the ohko into mega Swampert and Flamethrower is just nice into the grass types that resist Eel’s electric STAB. While this moveset does leave it unable to hit dragon types for even neutral damage, when looking at the dragons in the meta, like Archaludon, Garchomp and Dragonite, it usually has at least a neutral option into them. The stat investments are fairly straightforward, max spatk with a Modest nature lets it hit as hard as possible, since it’s base 135 spatk can feel a little underwhelming for a mega. The 26 speed lets it outspeed adamant mega Swampert and a little bit more to speedcreep any Modest Venusaur that are trying to just outspeed mega Swampert (it also outspeeds scarf jolly Staraptor, had to make that change after an unfortunate game (why does smogon’s reg m-b speed tiers not have scarf base 100s on it i’m so mad)) the rest is just in hp and a little in defense since i like having an odd hp number since i’ve been conditioned because of stealth rocks (i actually dont know if that’s bad since i am running Hopsitality Sinistcha, so maybe i’m throwing who knows)
Next we have the glue, the support, the speed and the disruption: Whimsicott! Pretty standard set Moonbast for an option to deal some damage, Tailwind for the speed support, Encore for disruption, punishing Protects, Fake Outs and any setup moves, and lastly we have Fake Tears, to combo with it’s partners for some crucial koes (and also many, many failed koes ;-;), i think helping hand is an option over it, being better into any kind of priority blocking, dark types and contrary mons (looking at you mega Staraptor), but i do like that fake tears can be stacked into one target and also stays on until switchout, meaning even if whimsicott faints it still leaves an impact. Focus Sash is pretty standard as well, lets it guaranteed live a single hit allowing it to stick on the field and distrupt in the ways a Prankster Whimsicott always does. The stat investment is again pretty simple, max spatk bc of that sash meaning bulk investment isnt really useful, max speed with a Timid nature so if an opposing Whimsicott ever outspeeds you and gets that encore off, you know you lost a speed tie and can use that to cope with the loss /j, 2hp bc there’s nothing else that stats are really useful for so might as well
Third we have another big special attacker: Primarina! Standard moveset of Hyper Voice, which becomes water STAB move thanks to Prim’s Liquid Voice ability, Moonblast for big STAB fairy damage, aqua jet is mainly for picking off any 1hp pokemon who just used a focus sash, or pre-emptively breaking focus sashes or Mimikyu’s disguise, and Protect just for repositioning. The Sitrus Berry just lets it stick around on the field for longer with it’s pretty good natural bulk and great defensive typing. This mon really helps into any opposing fire types since in another iteration of this team i somehow didn’t have a single fire resist, the spread damage of Hyper Voice is nice and water/fairy is a pretty good offensive typing into the current meta, not to mention that it’s a fairy type that isnt weak to steel. The stat investment is just max spatk with a Modest nature for the most damage, and then enough speed to outspeed scarf jolly Basculegion and Dragapult under tailwind, unfortunately it’s still outspeed by many scarfers like Hydreigon and Garchomp, but it’s base 60 speed so there is only so much you can do.
Fourth we have the deceptive damage dealer: Sinistcha! The moveset for Sinistcha is pretty standard, Matcha Gotcha and Shadow Ball for STABs, Rage Powder to redirect moves and protect it’s teammates, and Trick Room to reverse the speed order in it’s favour. The real heat in this set comes in the stat spread and item. Normally, sinistcha usually run quite a bulky set with an item to improve it’s longevity, letting it sit on the field and continue to redirect hits and heal it’s partners. I, however, opted for a full offensive set, with max spatk, a modest nature and a life orb, this let’s it deal a crazy amount of damage, especially to an opponent expecting a defensive sinistcha. Matcha Gotcha can completely wipe any grass weak pokemon off the board, and Shadow Ball is a great neutral hit into the majority of the metagame. I still opted for rage powder since there are times where redirection can give just the opening it’s partner needs to win the game, and trick room works great on the alternative speed mode, turning the tables on faster teams. The stat investment is once again, max spatk with a Modest nature, to maximise the damage it can deal, and enough speed to outspeed Choice Scarf Adamant Garchomp, honestly probably not a relevant target to outspeed, but that does often let it outspeed other mons like Sylveon and Pelipper most of the time. The rest, as always is just dumped into hp and a tiny bit in spdef since it already has a great defense stat.
Fifth, we have the second support, this time on the slow side of the team, we have Farigiraf! Pretty standard support set, Hyper Voice for damage, i just changed Twin Beam/Psyshock for imprison, bc i think the option into opposing hard trick room teams is kinda nice, the alternative damage option and guaranteed ohko into sash sneasler was nice, but aside from that i never really clicked twin beam, so i think imprison is going to help more in the long run, especially since Farigiraf’s role is mainly support. Helping Hand is there to boost it’s partner’s damage and Trick Room is there for “room” of the tailroom strategy. I’ll be honest the stats dont really do anything in specific, max hp and enough defense to hit the jump point, then the rest in spdef, i havent really done any proper calcs with it but this stat spread has done me well so i’m sticking with it. The colbur berry just lets it basically ignore any dark type threats for a turn, letting it eat Kingambit’s Kowtow Cleave, Incineroar’s Throat Chop and Tyranitar’s Knock Off with ease, letting it stay on the field to continue blocking any priority with it’s Armor Tail ability.
Finally, we have some speed, some steel and some good as gold, it’s Gholdengo! A moveset of Make It Rain for that big spread steel damage (even if it was nerfed so hard in champions what do you mean -2 spatk and it’s only 95% accurate, that’s just mean), Shadow Ball is just nice consistent Ghost STAB, Power Gem is a very funny move to snipe Charizard and Talonflame out of the sky, whilst also doing decent-ish damage to Incineroar ig, mainly there for the zard ohko tho. Finally flash cannon just as a single target steel option that doesnt lower it’s spatk, honestly not convinced on this, i tried dazzling gleam and i also think thunderbolt has some merit, trick is also an option but less valuable since there are so many megas running around that cant have their items removed. The choice scarf is for the speed control and some surprise koes, especially onto the afformentioned charizard, kinda annoying to lock into make it rain but sometimes you just gotta tank the spatk drops. The stat spread is max speed but a modest nature, this lets it speed tie with mega Delphox and outspeed Adamant mega Aerodactyl and Timid mega Gengar/mega Raichu-Y, the spatk lets it hit the jump point for Modest but more importantly, the 7hp lets it guaranteed survive an Adamant Kingambit’s Sucker Punch (assuming no other modifiers)
Okay so those are the mons, the basic strategy behind the team is to use tailwind into the teams that have fast mons without access to tailwind of their own, and trick room into the really fast teams. My biggest issue is against hard trick room, where i sometimes struggle to deny my opponent’s trick room and end up getting swept, so i’m hoping the change to imprison will help with that, but we’ll have to see.
Overall i’ve been having a ton of fun with Mega Eelektross and the tailroom archetype is an interesting one that i’ll have to play around with more, especially trying to bring both tailwind and trick room to the same game to combo the end of tailwind into setting up trick room to instantly flip the speed dynamics back in your favour
I dont think this team is perfect by any means but it is a team of my creation and i’m excited to continue iterating on it as the format continues to evolve!
