Who is a good special attacker for Battle Tree?

Question

Apparently, the battle tree has a grudge against me because whenever I get to about 34 wins, it gives me an opponent who has one Pokemon that completely walls my team. So I wanna experiment by using a physical attacking team for about 30 battles and special attacking for the next thirty (if I get that far) or vice versa. So I need some suggestions for some decent special attackers. My physical attacking team is:

Ferrothorn - Leech Seed, Stealth Rock, Protect, Power Whip with leftovers
Speed Boost Blaziken - Protect, Brave Bird, Brick Break, Flare Blitz with life orb
Garchomp - Dragon Claw, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Outrage with Dragon Z crystal

For my special attacking team I have planned but not tried:

Ferrothorn - Leech Seed, Stealth Rock, Protect, Power Whip with leftovers
Protean Greninja - Scald, U turn, Ice Beam, Dark Pulse with life orb
Hydreigon - Draco Meteor, Flash Cannon, Dark Pulse, Earth Power with choice specs

Please give suggestions about which Pokemon to use and about movesets.

Also, does taunt prevent the use of whirlwind?

Comments

Taunt does block Whirlwind. Also, why not mix the two? You could go with the old reliable Grass-Fire-Water and try Ferrothorn, Blaziken, Greninja. I'm not answering because I don't consider myself well-versed enough in the topic to give high-quality advice. This is mostly intuition.

This would also mean you need a new item, though...since we're talking Gen 7 maybe a Z-crystal? Consider obtaining the Blazikenite?

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According to https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/battle-tree-discussion-and-records.3587215/ , the best special attacker is Glalie.

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@StellarLucario because I think you are not allowed to use pokemon that hold the same item and I do not want to risk Blaziken/Greninja with choice item because they are my ace in the hole. Garchomp is just there for cleanup and because it's my favorite pokemon along with Hydreigon. Also, the reason people use mega Blaziken is to get speed boost. Why would I need mega Blaziken if my regular Blaziken has the same exact ability and that it hits nearly or even as hard as its mega with Life Orb?

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Fair enough. Maybe add a "nuclear option" with a Z-Crystal.

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I am actually planning z crystal if I get my claws on a Battle Bond Greninja, but I'm not that confident the one time use of z moves is worth it on protean Greninja

Answer 1

This Glalie was in a team that got 4000 wins in a row. I don't know of any teams with better records.

○ (Glalie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Moody
EVs: 172 HP / 140 SpA / 4 Sp. Def / 136 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Protect
- Frost Breath
- Taunt

For the time being, I've struck a deal that allows my team to escape death. My punishment from the Pokegods? Being forced to continually push an ice-covered boulder up the mountain (er, Tree). I've got it pretty good compared to Sisyphus though since Moody's very nature means that each step backward is accompanied by two steps forward.

At the Leftovers number of 177 HP, a Glalie behind a Sub at full health has 16 turns of safe Sub/Protect stalling against a faster opponent that can break its substitute every turn. In those 16 turns, Glalie has the opportunity to transform into a wall with bulk that puts Mega Aggron's or Cresselia's to shame, a nuke with a Frost Breath that deals twice as much damage as a Glaceon Blizzard, a blinding speedster that outruns an Accelgor with Unburden activated, a cheap piece of crap that dodges multiple attacks, or something in between - all as it wastes the PP of the opponent's strongest attack(s) against it. More often than not, the AI chooses an inaccurate super-effective attack when the 100% accurate STAB would have done the trick, neutralizes itself with recoil damage or stat drops, or provides Glalie a free substitute through use of a status move.

Glalie has enough Speed EVs to move before Scarf Tsareena at +1, which can give Glalie a few more chances to KO it from behind a Sub rather than forcing it to KO itself by High Jump Kicking into Protect. If you're here reading about strategies for the Battle Tree, you don't need to be told too many times about the usefulness of moving first and throwing up a Sub. The 4 EVs in Special Defense prevent a OHKO if Primarina-4 gets a max damage critical hit Sparkling Aria. I wanted Glalie's Frost Breath to be able to 2HKO Mega Metagross at +5 and may have been willing to drop a little Speed to make that happen, but fortunately putting the remaining EVs in Special Attack accomplishes just that. This Glalie has 88 Attack, which corresponds to about a 26 IV; now that I think of it I could level it up and Hyper Train, but the main point there is that a situation where you need to do some damage with Struggle is significantly more likely than Glalie dealing with confusion in the first place, so 31 is preferable to 0 if you're going for one with 6 IVs.

If you hate using moody, then you can use this special attacker from the second best team I found.

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 13 SpA (Hyper Trained)
- Icy Wind
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest

This Suicune may have Calm Mind, but make no mistake: It is a PP staller first and a sweeper second. Scald's burn chance is not something you want to rely on either. It can (and probably will) fail you at the most crucial times. Suicune is my only Ice resist, and is thus the most valuable member of the team. Never leave it in to get killed by a potential Sheer Cold, even if it means that you'll lose Salamence in the process. I say that Suicune is not a sweeper, but at +6 you'll be able to take on the remaining 2 foes. Just don't leave it in to potentially get crit by Thunder and faint with a mystery mon left in the back. The EVs were originally meant to outspeed the Maison's Garchomp4 at -1 while surviving a +2 crit Earthquake from the same Mon, and I left them as is. The speed outspeeds the Tree's Garchomp4, meaning that you won't have to take a Sand-boosted Earthquake for half your health if it comes in as the second mon.

source
(that thread is disorganized, so you need to click some links on post #2 if you want to find more instructions for using these Pokemon)

Comments

The problem? This setup takes ages, and though it's almost a guaranteed win, it's too time consuming. Also, why not put sheer cold instead of Frost Breath?

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Sheer cold has less PP and can't hit ice Pokemon. I'm also pretty sure it's unaffected by accuracy boosts.

Answer 2

Your movesets are pretty lackluster.

You should never use a team with all special attackers or all physical attackers. The first rule of competitive battling is to have a team diverse in all aspects. Because imagine if you were to face a Chansey in a match, or a Skarmory in another.

Choice items without U-Turn or Volt Switch are not suitable for the battle tree, because one turn is all it takes to lose. You'll want an option to pivot out in case you have a bad matchup.

You do not need Entry Hazards here in a 3v3 match. Brave Bird is a pretty bad move on Blaziken, as it provides no good coverage. Garchomp needs Swords Dance if you're using a sweeper.

Here's a team I'd suggest, which uses one of your own Pokemon, and has given me success in the past (104 wins):

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick

Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Return
- Earthquake
- Roost

Blaziken @ Firium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Brick Break
- Stone Edge

Try this team.

Comments

I see. I'll give this a try soon. May I ask an alternative for the tapu? I'm not really fond of using legendaries in any type of battle

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What's wrong with legendaries? Or is it just that it's hard to get a legendary with good stats?

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I just don't like using legendaries. Ever since I started pokemon a few years ago, I never liked using legendaries in any battle and that too. It's very time consuming to get the nature I want on a legendary and that's not even the counting the time spent battling and catching it

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I've edited it to not include legendaries. Rotom-Wash is almost as good as Tapu Koko for this team. But just wanted to say that you're missing out on a lot of power by not using legendaries .

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That makes it all the more fun for me, until the battle tree pulls off some sort of crap. I always feel like I'm cheating if I use legendaries anyway. Thanks for the suggestion

Answer 3

Pixilate sylveon might be good that is what my brother uses against my rayquaza when we battle each other and always one hits it

Comments

Rayquaza isn't allowed on battle tree. This is for battle tree not for battling other players

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@savitar he wasnt saying he used rayquaza on battle tree
@Mewtrainer why is pixilzte sylveon good?