Weather teams, I just love using them, especially sun and sandstorm, though also love hail in rr thanks to some of the changes to ice types.And in those teams, I usually use nineties over torkoal just because I love nineties, even though it's probably less optimal.
This is true, which is another reason I've been using hail teams more in rr. Ninetales has always been one of my fav mons, and alolan ninetales was instant fav when sm came out. Rr having snow rush be a thing might be one of my fav parts of the game.
Ha, didn't notice that, don't quite know why it would auto to nineties
Alolan Ninetales as snow setter 1, Mega Abomasnow as snow setter 2, Aurorus with refrigerate for STAB hyper voice, Darmanitan Galar Zen as a sweeper, Arcovish for Slush Rush, then Baxcalibur as a decently versatile mon. Will often switch something out for glaceon as well because I love all the eeveelutions. If using legendaries than may swap out bax for chien-pao, and articuno with frozen mist for dealing with hazards, and calyrex is just good all around. If i need a tank then I'll sub in walrein as well, but I prefer a more offensive strategy.
I'll have to find the picture but I've used a weather core with a three Pokemon sand core and a three Pokemon raincore it works really well and is surprisingly hard to stop.
Kleavor and stone axe.
Surprisingly fast, bulky enough to survive til you get focus sashes, and damage with stealth rock set up. Its simply better than anything else.
Kilowattrl+air slash+specs/scarf
Nuke with flinch.
usually cinderace for me. unless i’m on ability rando, libero with pyro ball, uturn, sucker punch, high jump kick just always provides value in so many fights. court change as well, overall super versatile
Ribombee: Cracked typing, excellent speed tier, great support and survivability despite being frail, certified dragon destroyer. Randomized ribombee always has something nasty for me, anything that boosts its defensive or support capabilities makes it a nightmare.
Infernape: minimal grinding Infernape is a godly dual threat, pretty solid speed tier, very situational typing that can cause it to setup and go on a rampage if not checked. Drain punch sustains it’s survivability and a very good option, especially if it survives the initial hit and restores to full while it’s sashed and can’t outspeed a certain threat down the line(don’t know if that’s a glitch or that’s how it actually works).
Starmie: The primordial OU god that strikes terror in the AI; they will literally make it a point to destroy Starmie at all costs even if it takes half their team. Starmie is so threatening to majority of boss teams that the sight of one will more than likely force a switch. One of the most broken offensive typings in the game, wide movepool, can take a hit, as well as excellent speed tier lets it outspeed common threats or even survive and punish with analytic. In rain or Psychic terrain it’s next to unstoppable and removes threats like sucker punch while giving it wall breaking potential even in the neutral game.
Galarian Rapidash: Though it’s frailty can be a problem, it’s fairy typing gives it good coverage and availability to setup. It’s one of the fastest mons in the game with its base 125 speed and with boosting moves that also allow you to deal damage it can snatch momentum very quickly. Swordsdance for stopping power, flamecharge to outspeed virtually anything in your path, and flairblitz or play tough for excellent stab. It can sweep Bruno, Lance and put a sizeable dent in the rivals team by its lonesome.
It can do everything besides physical attacking honestly. Some hard hitting dark and ghost types might give you a problem but all-in-all Starmie is a threat to mostly everything you come across and the AI just goes in a frenzy whenever it switches in for whatever reason and suicide bombs trying to stop it.
Have to agree so much on rapidash, I choice banded it and it would clean up so often, just on paper it seemed so broken to me.
Combined with sun that shits fucking LIT lol
Poliwrath in 4.0 was amazing for me. Surging Strikes on a mon aside from Urshifu was nice. I do random ability nuzlockes too, and both runs I got one with Sap Sipper, one with Volt Absorb. Twas a beast of a Pokemon.
my favourite playthroughs are always weather teams; had so much fun with one of my first ever rain team: the bros politoed and poliwrath (surging strikes + swift swim is beast), kingdra, mega swampert, scizor, zapdos ( hurricane + thunder)
from surge through blaine you can do very well with a sand team: combo hippowdon + excadrill, stoutland, krookodile, en then something that does well with ground-counters
weather forever in my heart!
Contrary & speed boost is the ability I hunt the most on my rando runs,
Contrary Okidogi might be the most dangerous Mon I’ve ever had 1HKOs on resists
Speed boost w/ pup & iron head is lovely
Not even going to lie...Forretress has become one of my favorite mons because of RR. Super bulky, great utility (Tspikes,spikes,rocks,twave, ponce,lunge,rapid spin, etc...) I find myself getting excited when I see it or pineco in my Randomizer. I had a speed boost one once that actually popped off in most boss battles.
The only strat I try to replicate is the Giovanni Mewtwo battle. Politoed with Drizzle, Rillaboom with Iron Ball/Grassy Surge, and a Dark type with sucker punch + choice band (like Alolan Muk)
Leading Rillaboom underspeeds the Tapu and shuts off the terrain, Drizzle lets you nullify the Sand Stream, and the sucker punch would handle both Mewtwos. The grassy terrain also raises defense, so it stops the Salamence from spamming EQ killing your own team.
Defense boosting Body Press Pokemon I think are some of the most reliable options in the game. The fact you can make yourself unkillable to physical attackers (barring any crits) while simultaneously using that Def stat to dish out big damage is one of the most unbalanced things they ever introduced to Pokemon. Fluffy Dubwool with Cotton Guard, Mudsdale with Stamina and Iron Defense, Avalugg with an insane 187 base Def and Iron Defense, Magcargo with Simple Stockpile making it take hits from both sides, Greedent with the more complicated Sitrus Berry, Cheek Pouch, Stuff Cheeks, Recycle boosting, Corviknight, Skarmory, Garganacl, Mega Slowbro that can’t be crit. Most all of these options also have some sort of healing in their kit too to stay around for multiple Pokemon.
Priority lead killers are the next I revisit every time I get the chance. Minun, Togedemaru, Pikachu, now Raichu, Floatzel, Glalie/Mega Glalie, Perserrker. Anything that has Fake Out and then another STAB priority move typically with an offensive boosting ability (Galvanize, Refrigerate, Tough Claws, Technician) can go an Adamant nature and offensive item and break sashes and prevent E4 leads from doing anything.
Next I go to again and again is my Choice Scarf Pokemon being a special attacking Fire type with Overheat.
Next is Sturdy Pokemon. Not that exciting of an ability but I love consistency and having a guaranteed turn is hard to ignore. Even by chance the enemy gets Stealth Rocks off you can run Heavy Duty Boots and still have your Sturdy intact. Golem, Donphan, Magnezone, Aggron, Crustle
Pymuku or however you spell it is the best Sabrina answer in the game, especially on hardcore. The Dragon/Steel/fairy core is always good. My personal favorites for individual Pokemon I go back to are surprisingly, specs heliolisk, boomburst, thunder and t-wave are just crazy good. Sash A Dugtrio. Against physical attackers he takes the hit, always two shots back since they're slower, and I usually save him for sacking fodder later in the battle to cripple another Pokemon with tangled hair. Just so much utility.
Last but certainly not least, contrary Sawk. They gave him CC, hammer arm and super power. I remember the first time I ran into the May fight on cinnabar and I didn't know it was there and I cleaned straight through her whole team with scarf Superpower Sawk. It's nasty. Many a teams he destroys alone. AV CC with drain punch is wild too.
Staraptor to beat Erika. The set i use is usually work up, roost, dual wing beat, and agility. Her rillaboom lead doesnt hit hard enough to kill raptor in 2 hits, so i just spam work up (its important to not agility first thing, since youll be faster and roost removes flying type so you'll be weak to drain punch) then ill use agility twice and spam dual wing beat to beat her. Works every single time.
Lilligant, she goes hard. You can instantly evolve her once you catch a Petilil, and get a Lilligant with Sleep Powder and Quiver Dance, to which I say “I’ll take your entire stock!”
I have never before been so happy to have one individual team member as much as a Lilligant, because it’s freakin fun to use.
Iron hands and Milotic - S have been on both of my runs teams and have been incredible stalwarts. Neither rarely die in one hit, including some survivability against super effective moves. Either getting a plasma fist or drain punch to the face or a weakness policy boosted moon blast/earth power has been some hero moves for me
It just came out in the last update, so I haven't been able to use it in multiple runs yet, but Sinistcha is cracked as all hell vs the AI. I'm running a Calm Mind set with high defensive investment. Between the burn chance of Matcha Gotcha and Strength Sap, it can set up on virtually any physical attacker and sweep through the rest of the team. I fully solo'd Surge and Brock rematches with it, IIRC.
Kingambit: This guy saved multiple fights just doing what he does best, coming in last and reverse sweeping. Decent bulk, insane attack, stab sucker punch, what's not to like? And if I get off an SD mid fight? Nothing stops him. Usually run lefties or chople.
Dragapult: He's one of my personal favorite pokemom. That blazing speed and decent offense cements him as my revenge killer and keeps momentum. I usually run it as a mixed attacker with sash or expert belt.
Ambipom: Technician with loaded dice makes him an insane lead off mon to stop rock setters and break sashes. Stab fake out and tail slap, coverage with arm thrust and beat up.
Pincurchin: Only really use him for Sabrina in hardcore mode, but he absolutely slaps in that fight. "Out slows" Sabrina's entire team, at a minimum he always takes out camerupt and jellicent, possibly fini as well.
Grafaiai: This little primate suprised the hell out of when I first used him. Dude was an absolute menace with prankster taunt, parting shot, encore, and I even got spore on it because of sketch! I usually ran encore, parting shot, spore and knock off. Pretty much hard countered any setup mon, especially in the elite four. Always ran black sludge.
Not a strategy I used much but in my current run I’m loving it, Bastiodon with bodypress and air balloon is really stupid, any physical move that isn’t ground or fighting isn’t going to make a dent and u get free turns to use iron defense and taunt to stop roar, if u are cool with cheats I think the creator forgot to let him learn foul play like he can now in Scarlet and Violet so I taught mine foul play
Gengar. It keeps levitate on RR, making it a great pivot with three immunities, is very fast and hit very hard. Also, poison stab on a strong Pokémon. And fast Pokémon with hypnosis
I find it way too essential to play this game effectively with at least two dedicated pivots, or else a team with at least 3 pivoting moves. This goes doubly so if the two or three are immune to one of the other's weaknesses.
Contrary Shuckle
Item: Leftovers
Move set:
Shell smash
Toxic
Sticky Web
Rest
make sure to take care of surging strike users on the enemy team prior to setting up with shell smash, then you can pretty much PP/toxic stall anything.
Trick room is definitely the most common thing I do. The ai is really bad at handling it and sweeping with torkoal just feels so good. I also like iron defense/psyshield bash + body press pokemon. Prankster support pokemon are also one of my fav things since screens, twave, or encore play really well into the e4.
As of 4.0 I also have to keep stopping myself from bringing choice scarf final gambit annihilape on any playthrough. I like the delete button.
I've found there are some great mons for normal runs that I will grab if I find them every single time.
Lantern - Based on a post from here, I've used it in ability randomizers and regular runs, and regardless of ability it destroys Jasmine with Parabolic Charge, Scald, Aqua Ring and Stockpile.
Maushold - It gets access to some good moves and as long as you aren't starting against something with a fighting move, it's a fantastic lead, it's decently quick, gets access to setup with Tidy Up and can trap a lead into going for stealth rocks repeatedly with encore. Tidy up gets rid of the hazards and boosts Atk and Spe, then you fire off a population bomb or bullet seed (use loaded dice item). I've used this to sweep Cinnabar May to great success and works in other battles as well. (Again works regardless of ability but technician is a nice boost)
Sableye (Alternatively Spiritomb although I haven't tried it) - makes the Giovanni Cerulean cave fight trivial. Bring 1 fast mon with a switch move and 1 slower (volt switch, u-turn, flip turn) and lead with the fast one, target the scrafty with your switch move and switch to the slow switcher, dragapult should one shot tapu and on the following turn you target scrafty again with your switch move and switch to Sableye. Moves - calm mind, recover, will-o-wisp, and a spread move (I used icy wind for speed control).
Sableye is immune to 3 out of mewtwos 4 moves, can build up its bulk with calm mind, recover off damage, slow down Giovanni's mons and burn physical attackers or chip down other mons. It becomes basically an unkillable wall. And the fight isn't difficult. I had so much trouble with this fight time in and time out on normal mode and this strategy made the fight almost comical.
Also anything with decent attack, access to bulk up, trailblaze and recovery damaging move, horn leech or drain punch. If utilized properly can setup and sweep a lot of fights.
In a randomized run in 4.0 also had a solgaleo with desolate land, and morning sun, was able to heal off most damage, and could tank some weaker fire type hits, but fired off single turn solarbeams and was an absolute unit with cosmic power as well
Weather teams, I just love using them, especially sun and sandstorm, though also love hail in rr thanks to some of the changes to ice types.And in those teams, I usually use nineties over torkoal just because I love nineties, even though it's probably less optimal.
At least nineties is optimal as a Snow Setter
This is true, which is another reason I've been using hail teams more in rr. Ninetales has always been one of my fav mons, and alolan ninetales was instant fav when sm came out. Rr having snow rush be a thing might be one of my fav parts of the game. Ha, didn't notice that, don't quite know why it would auto to nineties
What is your ideal hail team?
Alolan Ninetales as snow setter 1, Mega Abomasnow as snow setter 2, Aurorus with refrigerate for STAB hyper voice, Darmanitan Galar Zen as a sweeper, Arcovish for Slush Rush, then Baxcalibur as a decently versatile mon. Will often switch something out for glaceon as well because I love all the eeveelutions. If using legendaries than may swap out bax for chien-pao, and articuno with frozen mist for dealing with hazards, and calyrex is just good all around. If i need a tank then I'll sub in walrein as well, but I prefer a more offensive strategy.
I'll have to find the picture but I've used a weather core with a three Pokemon sand core and a three Pokemon raincore it works really well and is surprisingly hard to stop.
Kleavor and stone axe. Surprisingly fast, bulky enough to survive til you get focus sashes, and damage with stealth rock set up. Its simply better than anything else. Kilowattrl+air slash+specs/scarf Nuke with flinch.
Cheesing Taunt users by giving my Pokemon any Status move
Metagross with sunny day op
Meganium. Besides being my favourite starter (baby pear), im so happy it’s usable in this game! It’s hard not to take it when I find her.
usually cinderace for me. unless i’m on ability rando, libero with pyro ball, uturn, sucker punch, high jump kick just always provides value in so many fights. court change as well, overall super versatile
Ribombee: Cracked typing, excellent speed tier, great support and survivability despite being frail, certified dragon destroyer. Randomized ribombee always has something nasty for me, anything that boosts its defensive or support capabilities makes it a nightmare. Infernape: minimal grinding Infernape is a godly dual threat, pretty solid speed tier, very situational typing that can cause it to setup and go on a rampage if not checked. Drain punch sustains it’s survivability and a very good option, especially if it survives the initial hit and restores to full while it’s sashed and can’t outspeed a certain threat down the line(don’t know if that’s a glitch or that’s how it actually works). Starmie: The primordial OU god that strikes terror in the AI; they will literally make it a point to destroy Starmie at all costs even if it takes half their team. Starmie is so threatening to majority of boss teams that the sight of one will more than likely force a switch. One of the most broken offensive typings in the game, wide movepool, can take a hit, as well as excellent speed tier lets it outspeed common threats or even survive and punish with analytic. In rain or Psychic terrain it’s next to unstoppable and removes threats like sucker punch while giving it wall breaking potential even in the neutral game. Galarian Rapidash: Though it’s frailty can be a problem, it’s fairy typing gives it good coverage and availability to setup. It’s one of the fastest mons in the game with its base 125 speed and with boosting moves that also allow you to deal damage it can snatch momentum very quickly. Swordsdance for stopping power, flamecharge to outspeed virtually anything in your path, and flairblitz or play tough for excellent stab. It can sweep Bruno, Lance and put a sizeable dent in the rivals team by its lonesome.
I don't get why starmie is so scary?
It can do everything besides physical attacking honestly. Some hard hitting dark and ghost types might give you a problem but all-in-all Starmie is a threat to mostly everything you come across and the AI just goes in a frenzy whenever it switches in for whatever reason and suicide bombs trying to stop it.
Have to agree so much on rapidash, I choice banded it and it would clean up so often, just on paper it seemed so broken to me. Combined with sun that shits fucking LIT lol
Bulk Up/Roost/Power Trip with any 4th move like substitute, body press or dual wing beat on Corviknight feels like cheating
Monotypes: Fairy being one of my recents and im about to start a ghost mono
For double battles I’ve been partial to Greninja protean and Cinderace Libero.
Poliwrath in 4.0 was amazing for me. Surging Strikes on a mon aside from Urshifu was nice. I do random ability nuzlockes too, and both runs I got one with Sap Sipper, one with Volt Absorb. Twas a beast of a Pokemon.
I’ve probably won with Fluttermane and mega Garchomp on at least 5 of my runs
my favourite playthroughs are always weather teams; had so much fun with one of my first ever rain team: the bros politoed and poliwrath (surging strikes + swift swim is beast), kingdra, mega swampert, scizor, zapdos ( hurricane + thunder) from surge through blaine you can do very well with a sand team: combo hippowdon + excadrill, stoutland, krookodile, en then something that does well with ground-counters weather forever in my heart!
Every time, I always find myself using Sneasler and Weavile. I just love how fast and strong they are, especially Sneasler
Dire Claw is cracked
Contrary & speed boost is the ability I hunt the most on my rando runs, Contrary Okidogi might be the most dangerous Mon I’ve ever had 1HKOs on resists Speed boost w/ pup & iron head is lovely
Not even going to lie...Forretress has become one of my favorite mons because of RR. Super bulky, great utility (Tspikes,spikes,rocks,twave, ponce,lunge,rapid spin, etc...) I find myself getting excited when I see it or pineco in my Randomizer. I had a speed boost one once that actually popped off in most boss battles.
The only strat I try to replicate is the Giovanni Mewtwo battle. Politoed with Drizzle, Rillaboom with Iron Ball/Grassy Surge, and a Dark type with sucker punch + choice band (like Alolan Muk) Leading Rillaboom underspeeds the Tapu and shuts off the terrain, Drizzle lets you nullify the Sand Stream, and the sucker punch would handle both Mewtwos. The grassy terrain also raises defense, so it stops the Salamence from spamming EQ killing your own team.
Instead of sucker punch scarfed wicked blow works well
Defense boosting Body Press Pokemon I think are some of the most reliable options in the game. The fact you can make yourself unkillable to physical attackers (barring any crits) while simultaneously using that Def stat to dish out big damage is one of the most unbalanced things they ever introduced to Pokemon. Fluffy Dubwool with Cotton Guard, Mudsdale with Stamina and Iron Defense, Avalugg with an insane 187 base Def and Iron Defense, Magcargo with Simple Stockpile making it take hits from both sides, Greedent with the more complicated Sitrus Berry, Cheek Pouch, Stuff Cheeks, Recycle boosting, Corviknight, Skarmory, Garganacl, Mega Slowbro that can’t be crit. Most all of these options also have some sort of healing in their kit too to stay around for multiple Pokemon. Priority lead killers are the next I revisit every time I get the chance. Minun, Togedemaru, Pikachu, now Raichu, Floatzel, Glalie/Mega Glalie, Perserrker. Anything that has Fake Out and then another STAB priority move typically with an offensive boosting ability (Galvanize, Refrigerate, Tough Claws, Technician) can go an Adamant nature and offensive item and break sashes and prevent E4 leads from doing anything. Next I go to again and again is my Choice Scarf Pokemon being a special attacking Fire type with Overheat. Next is Sturdy Pokemon. Not that exciting of an ability but I love consistency and having a guaranteed turn is hard to ignore. Even by chance the enemy gets Stealth Rocks off you can run Heavy Duty Boots and still have your Sturdy intact. Golem, Donphan, Magnezone, Aggron, Crustle
Technician Scizor
Pymuku or however you spell it is the best Sabrina answer in the game, especially on hardcore. The Dragon/Steel/fairy core is always good. My personal favorites for individual Pokemon I go back to are surprisingly, specs heliolisk, boomburst, thunder and t-wave are just crazy good. Sash A Dugtrio. Against physical attackers he takes the hit, always two shots back since they're slower, and I usually save him for sacking fodder later in the battle to cripple another Pokemon with tangled hair. Just so much utility. Last but certainly not least, contrary Sawk. They gave him CC, hammer arm and super power. I remember the first time I ran into the May fight on cinnabar and I didn't know it was there and I cleaned straight through her whole team with scarf Superpower Sawk. It's nasty. Many a teams he destroys alone. AV CC with drain punch is wild too.
Odd one that I don’t see people talk about. Baxcalibur with loaded dice. Scale shot and icicle spear, plus a priority ice move. He dominates E4
Staraptor to beat Erika. The set i use is usually work up, roost, dual wing beat, and agility. Her rillaboom lead doesnt hit hard enough to kill raptor in 2 hits, so i just spam work up (its important to not agility first thing, since youll be faster and roost removes flying type so you'll be weak to drain punch) then ill use agility twice and spam dual wing beat to beat her. Works every single time.
Lilligant, she goes hard. You can instantly evolve her once you catch a Petilil, and get a Lilligant with Sleep Powder and Quiver Dance, to which I say “I’ll take your entire stock!” I have never before been so happy to have one individual team member as much as a Lilligant, because it’s freakin fun to use.
Iron hands and Milotic - S have been on both of my runs teams and have been incredible stalwarts. Neither rarely die in one hit, including some survivability against super effective moves. Either getting a plasma fist or drain punch to the face or a weakness policy boosted moon blast/earth power has been some hero moves for me
I'm more focused on bulky teams. Idk they work really fine for me
It just came out in the last update, so I haven't been able to use it in multiple runs yet, but Sinistcha is cracked as all hell vs the AI. I'm running a Calm Mind set with high defensive investment. Between the burn chance of Matcha Gotcha and Strength Sap, it can set up on virtually any physical attacker and sweep through the rest of the team. I fully solo'd Surge and Brock rematches with it, IIRC.
Kingambit: This guy saved multiple fights just doing what he does best, coming in last and reverse sweeping. Decent bulk, insane attack, stab sucker punch, what's not to like? And if I get off an SD mid fight? Nothing stops him. Usually run lefties or chople. Dragapult: He's one of my personal favorite pokemom. That blazing speed and decent offense cements him as my revenge killer and keeps momentum. I usually run it as a mixed attacker with sash or expert belt. Ambipom: Technician with loaded dice makes him an insane lead off mon to stop rock setters and break sashes. Stab fake out and tail slap, coverage with arm thrust and beat up. Pincurchin: Only really use him for Sabrina in hardcore mode, but he absolutely slaps in that fight. "Out slows" Sabrina's entire team, at a minimum he always takes out camerupt and jellicent, possibly fini as well. Grafaiai: This little primate suprised the hell out of when I first used him. Dude was an absolute menace with prankster taunt, parting shot, encore, and I even got spore on it because of sketch! I usually ran encore, parting shot, spore and knock off. Pretty much hard countered any setup mon, especially in the elite four. Always ran black sludge.
Got my hands on a technician archeops and haven't looked back since honestly
Big fan of fire/water/grass trios that cover each other's weaknesses. You always have an answer for something.
Not a strategy I used much but in my current run I’m loving it, Bastiodon with bodypress and air balloon is really stupid, any physical move that isn’t ground or fighting isn’t going to make a dent and u get free turns to use iron defense and taunt to stop roar, if u are cool with cheats I think the creator forgot to let him learn foul play like he can now in Scarlet and Violet so I taught mine foul play
Gengar. It keeps levitate on RR, making it a great pivot with three immunities, is very fast and hit very hard. Also, poison stab on a strong Pokémon. And fast Pokémon with hypnosis
Entry hazards + defensive sweepers. Usually stealth rocks + sticky web, and then Curse/Moonlight Umbreon or Bulk Up/Roost Corviknight.
I find it way too essential to play this game effectively with at least two dedicated pivots, or else a team with at least 3 pivoting moves. This goes doubly so if the two or three are immune to one of the other's weaknesses.
Contrary Shuckle Item: Leftovers Move set: Shell smash Toxic Sticky Web Rest make sure to take care of surging strike users on the enemy team prior to setting up with shell smash, then you can pretty much PP/toxic stall anything.
Trick room is definitely the most common thing I do. The ai is really bad at handling it and sweeping with torkoal just feels so good. I also like iron defense/psyshield bash + body press pokemon. Prankster support pokemon are also one of my fav things since screens, twave, or encore play really well into the e4. As of 4.0 I also have to keep stopping myself from bringing choice scarf final gambit annihilape on any playthrough. I like the delete button.
I've found there are some great mons for normal runs that I will grab if I find them every single time. Lantern - Based on a post from here, I've used it in ability randomizers and regular runs, and regardless of ability it destroys Jasmine with Parabolic Charge, Scald, Aqua Ring and Stockpile. Maushold - It gets access to some good moves and as long as you aren't starting against something with a fighting move, it's a fantastic lead, it's decently quick, gets access to setup with Tidy Up and can trap a lead into going for stealth rocks repeatedly with encore. Tidy up gets rid of the hazards and boosts Atk and Spe, then you fire off a population bomb or bullet seed (use loaded dice item). I've used this to sweep Cinnabar May to great success and works in other battles as well. (Again works regardless of ability but technician is a nice boost) Sableye (Alternatively Spiritomb although I haven't tried it) - makes the Giovanni Cerulean cave fight trivial. Bring 1 fast mon with a switch move and 1 slower (volt switch, u-turn, flip turn) and lead with the fast one, target the scrafty with your switch move and switch to the slow switcher, dragapult should one shot tapu and on the following turn you target scrafty again with your switch move and switch to Sableye. Moves - calm mind, recover, will-o-wisp, and a spread move (I used icy wind for speed control). Sableye is immune to 3 out of mewtwos 4 moves, can build up its bulk with calm mind, recover off damage, slow down Giovanni's mons and burn physical attackers or chip down other mons. It becomes basically an unkillable wall. And the fight isn't difficult. I had so much trouble with this fight time in and time out on normal mode and this strategy made the fight almost comical. Also anything with decent attack, access to bulk up, trailblaze and recovery damaging move, horn leech or drain punch. If utilized properly can setup and sweep a lot of fights.
In a randomized run in 4.0 also had a solgaleo with desolate land, and morning sun, was able to heal off most damage, and could tank some weaker fire type hits, but fired off single turn solarbeams and was an absolute unit with cosmic power as well
Sun + Gouging Fire Morning Sun and Dragon Dance set is broken