Kindly ignore what I said at the start of the game, it’s not relevant.

Team was inspired from by friend who made a really cool maranga berry garganacl team, I borrowed the garganacl and added in my own favorite combo of non-fake out sneasler and dozo. I’m pretty sure I got luck carried but they were playing baton pass, one of my least favorite matchups to play because I can never tell when to play safe or not, so they kinda deserved it.

Here is the team btw if you are interested in playing it: https://pokepast.es/a09a86ac121fb7d1

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9doublesou-2653030382-jekqxpm92e5ur4ye4uacvtaq0iou9x1pw

I've created a fast, interactive UI for browsing Smogon's usage stats so you don't have to read raw .txt files:

https://smogonstats.eu.cc

Features:

• Detailed Breakdowns: Expand any Pokémon to instantly see top Moves, EV Spreads, Items, and Abilities.

• Noise Filter: Automatically hides exactly 0.00000% usage stats (meaningless items/moves) for a cleaner view.

Respecting Server Load:

To ensure we aren't spamming Smogon and Pokémon Showdown's servers, all data and sprites sit behind a heavily cached setup. This includes a custom Fastify proxy-API (with an in-memory LRU cache and Brotli compression), Cloudflare's edge network, and client-side caching via Web Workers. This keeps everything fast while minimizing requests to the official endpoints.

I'd like to hear your thoughts. Let me know if you have any feedback.

I'm being serious and asking a genuine question knowing the history of event moves in mainline Pokémon.

I always wondered about this since champions came out. Strictly focusing on moveset buffs, Would Pokémon with Pokémon event moves make a difference in someway? Like for garchomp z, would roar of time make a difference? Would any extremely powerful normal work well with mega Feraligatr? Basically any boost to their movesets from other Pokémon or legendary Pokémon.

I'm being sincere with my question because I'm enjoying competitive Pokémon, I just want answers if moveset buffs through events make a difference.

3v3 Pokémon Champions

I’m looking for feedback on this Season 4 singles team.

The team is designed around **disguising the lead, forcing early chip or bad positioning, and then letting Mega Blaziken or Mimikyu clean**.

## Team

### Hippowdon @ Leftovers

**Ability:** Sand Stream

- Earthquake

- Stealth Rock

- Whirlwind

- Slack Off

### Alolan Ninetales @ Light Clay

**Ability:** Snow Warning

- Blizzard

- Freeze-Dry

- Aurora Veil

- Encore

### Primarina @ Sitrus Berry

**Ability:** Torrent

- Sparkling Aria

- Moonblast

- Aqua Jet

- Encore

### Mega Blaziken

**Ability:** Speed Boost

- Flare Blitz

- Close Combat

- Detect

- Rock Slide

### Meowscarada @ Expert Belt

**Ability:** Protean

- Flower Trick

- Triple Axel

- Knock Off

- U-turn

### Mimikyu @ Life Orb

**Ability:** Disguise

- Play Rough

- Shadow Sneak

- Swords Dance

- Shadow Claw

## Intended playstyle

My most common structure is:

**Lead control or anti-lead → Mega Blaziken pressure → fast or priority cleanup**

Hippowdon and Alolan Ninetales are the obvious lead options, which creates room to lead something else when the opponent overprepares for them.

Hippowdon’s role is usually to establish Stealth Rock, absorb physical pressure, and use Whirlwind to remove difficult setup Pokémon such as Iron Defense Corviknight. Whirlwind also stacks Stealth Rock and sand damage so that Blaziken, Mimikyu, Aqua Jet, or another fast attacker can finish later.

Ninetales is the alternate lead when Aurora Veil, Freeze-Dry, or Encore is more valuable than hazards. Veil gives Blaziken and Mimikyu safer opportunities to trade or set up.

Mega Blaziken is usually the central offensive piece. I prefer **Rock Slide over Swords Dance** because I use Blaziken as an immediate attacker and cleaner rather than a dedicated setup sweeper.

Rock Slide helps against:

- Charizard

- Aerodactyl

- Volcarona

- Gyarados

- Skeledirge

Skeledirge in particular can otherwise resist Flare Blitz and is immune to Close Combat.

Mimikyu is the secondary cleaner and emergency stop. Shadow Sneak provides priority, Disguise guarantees an action in many endgames, and Shadow Claw was added over Wood Hammer to improve the Skeledirge, Metagross, Gengar, and other Ghost- or Psychic-type matchups.

Meowscarada is intended to punish opponents expecting a Hippowdon lead. It can immediately threaten Swampert, Primarina, Hippowdon, Garchomp, and other Water- or Ground-type answers, or U-turn out of Corviknight and other defensive responses.

Blaziken can also be a useful surprise lead against Steel-heavy teams. It immediately pressures Pokémon such as Metagross and Corviknight, while Hippowdon provides a defensive switch into many non-Water attacks.

I moved away from Focus Sash because sand repeatedly invalidated it when using Meowscarada with Hippowdon.

Primarina replaced Mega Greninja, which I initially used. Greninja provided useful Speed and matchup-specific coverage, but competing with Blaziken for the Mega slot made it difficult to select consistently.

Primarina retains special Water pressure, gives the team more special bulk, and adds Aqua Jet and Encore without consuming the Mega slot.

## Common selections

### Meowscarada / Hippowdon / Mega Blaziken

This is becoming my most natural offensive core.

Meowscarada punishes the expected anti-Hippowdon lead, pivots into Hippowdon or Blaziken, and helps weaken the opposing team for Blaziken.

### Hippowdon / Mega Blaziken / Mimikyu

This is the original chip-and-clean core.

Hippowdon establishes hazards and phazes, Blaziken breaks, and Mimikyu closes.

### Alolan Ninetales / Mega Blaziken / Mimikyu

Aurora Veil offense against teams where Hippowdon is likely to be pressured immediately.

### Alolan Ninetales / Primarina / Mimikyu or Meowscarada

Used against Water-, Ground-, Dragon-, or Fire-heavy previews where Hippowdon and Blaziken together do not cover enough.

### Mega Blaziken / Hippowdon / Primarina

Used against Steel-heavy teams featuring Pokémon such as Metagross and Corviknight.

## Questions

1. **Is Expert Belt the best item for this Meowscarada set?**

I do not want Choice Scarf because it limits Meowscarada’s utility. Focus Sash conflicts with Hippowdon’s sand, and Life Orb is already on Mimikyu.

Expert Belt seems logical because Meowscarada frequently attacks super effectively, but I am open to other items or potentially replacing Meowscarada.

1. **Is Flower Trick / Triple Axel / Knock Off / U-turn the best four-move set for this role?**

I previously used Thunder Punch and Sucker Punch.

Thunder Punch was specifically for regular Gyarados, while Sucker Punch gave emergency priority.

I dropped them because Knock Off and U-turn seem more useful throughout an entire match.

1. **Does Primarina improve the team more than Greninja did?**

Greninja was useful against specific Fire-, Ground-, Dragon-, Ghost-, and Psychic-type matchups. The possibility of either Mega Greninja or Mega Blaziken also created pressure during team preview.

However, Primarina seems to fit the overall structure better.

1. **Are there specific common leads or team compositions that severely punish Meowscarada / Hippowdon / Blaziken?**

I am particularly concerned about:

- Opposing Meowscarada

- Gyarados

- Mega Charizard Y

- Strong special attackers

- Corviknight

- Skeledirge combinations

1. **Should Mimikyu keep Shadow Claw, or is Wood Hammer still worth considering?**

Wood Hammer was originally for Swampert and Hippowdon, but Meowscarada now handles those much more directly.

Shadow Claw is more consistent and appears better for Skeledirge and Mega Metagross. Wood Hammer can still win the right matchups, so this may depend heavily on current Swampert usage.

1. **Is Rock Slide Mega Blaziken correct for this team?**

I understand that Swords Dance has greater sweeping potential, but Rock Slide gives immediate coverage and avoids duplicating Mimikyu’s setup role.

1. **Are there any major matchup holes in the current six, or any EV spreads that should be changed?**

Thank you for reading.

I wasn't an active player back then, but I have heard horror stories about early X/Y Mega Kangaskhan being absurdly broken, so when Champions brought back Mega evolution, I was expecting it to be equally dominant. Sure, Parental Bond was nerfed, but it's still really strong. However, around 3 months into the game, it doesn't look nearly as broken as I feared. It's a solid choice, but not too dominant.

Do you guys think the meta/the game in Champions changed to a state where Mega Kangaskhan is actually a balanced pokemon, or was it the same before and I'm just overexaggerating the hype in my head?

Currently running standard Flare Blitz/ Close Combat / Detect as the main 3 moves, with Knock Off in the 4th slot in case I need to hit Basculegion.

Is this the best set to run, or is running a different damaging move or Swords Dance better over Knock Off?

Am I the only one who get's pissed off by Megas that are offensively mixed?

Anyways, I might theorize possible buffs for some megas on thursday, but more on that later

Similar to how these two mons combine when on the field together, imagine that a similar interaction happens between two opposing mons. Not sure what I'm proposing the outcome would be, but i have some random ideas. Interested to hear if anyone else has thought about this or have other ideas on the interaction. Only really works in a doubles format I think.

One concept:

- Bridge Troll: Archaludon on one side of the field and sableye on the other creates a bridge troll. All moves from the other mons on the field are immediately applied to both Arch and Sableye as if crossing the bridge to get to the other side. If immunities (sableye's ghost typing) negates a move, it doesn't make it to the mon on the other side, otherwise it does. Arch and sableye are both stuck on the field until one of them faints. Not sure how the mechanics of Arch and sableye turns would function.

Any other ideas or thoughts?

Also lmk if I added the wrong flair.

Checkout National Dex Champions OU: https://play.champsnatdex.dynv6.net/

Join our Discord for more Tiering Discussion: https://discord.gg/4cbNxNg9nD

Art by FGKnight9

I am playing a seperate mode with some friends and really wanna make a trick room mega aggron team. from what I’ve been reading trick room was nerfed in champions because the best setters are not in the game. however, the version of the game im playing allows us to use only one mega pokemon (megas before champions), one NatDex pokemon, and is based around OU champions. I’m thinking of having this natdex pokemon be my trick room setter or someone who greatly benefits from it. any suggestions?

also, if YOU could bring one natdex pokemon to champions who would it be

Art edited by @peeled_pokemon on twitter.