With Regulation H being a lower power format, it goes without saying that you're going to see more variety (theoretically). This doesn't mean incredibly unique teams all the time, but rather different variations of the same archetype can feature pretty unique Pokémon. This makes the current ruleset fairly attractive to both newcomers and oldheads alike, those that want to be able to showcase some of their favourite Pokémon. I would say, across my time advising new and experienced players alike, common pitfalls can be seen when trying to get something to work.
Hence, the purpose of today's post, is to walk you through my personal approach when considering niche picks, and stuff you want to make work.
Preface
The singular most important aspect about any new idea is to keep your expectations in check. This is not to say that you can't reach for the stars, but to not allow a meteoric fall from discouraging you too hard. Pokémon has and always will be a game of logic and reason. There are objective reasons as to why a pick is good and why a Pokémon is high in usage.
Sometimes no matter how deep your understanding, how well you play, and how solid your theory is, it comes down to one thing:
The ease of execution.
If, in actual play, your pick never finds an opportunity to express its intended role, either due to requiring convoluted board states, unlikely matchups, or just having the general metagame being against it, then it can be defined as a poor pick and no longer consider a valid option.
Additionally, even with some success, you might be able to identify other Pokémon that can express the same gameplan your team desires. This is the point you can lean on the want to use your favourite picks, using it as a confounding reason rather than just using it as a shield against criticism (an act a lot are guilty of).
Sometimes, you will have to balance the goal of making a fun team with making a winning one, and the compromise to link both of those things together is performance. Have fun, be reasonable.
Oh, do keep in mind some of these points do apply no matter how "niche" your pick is too. It's good to have understanding of why you're doing something other than "it's good"!
- Building your piece
- Further Piece Development
- New Piece Theory, [and a Team Report???]
- Moving Beyond
Building your piece
Obviously, figure out what Pokémon you'd want to use.
This whole post would be pretty meaningless if you didn't have a Pokémon you'd want to use. There are a couple of methods, where you build upon an established piece, or try and theorise an entirely new pick.
Personally, regardless of method, I build off my understanding of how certain matchups interact with each other and trying to percieve "holes" in those matchups. Then, try and see what niches can fulfil the job of punching those gaps of play.
This can be ideal defensive typings, a unique ability, or specific moveset combinations that only they can access.
After you have something in mind, you're going to need to do a basic comparison of it's performance relative to the metagame. This does not necessarily mean utilising it in 100 games on ladder and drawing conclusions from there. You can do so just from basic theorising to start.
Here's a screenshot from ages ago (which inspired this post) in my own Discord chat explaining how I build with something. In this case, it was a weird Gouging Fire and Brute Bonnet team.
So this process can be utilised even with existing sets. Let's take a look at something like Weezing, who recently got a bit of a spotlight from recent Regulation H events thanks to Wolfe Glicke.
Further Piece Development
Weezing @ Sitrus Berry Ability: Neutralizing Gas Tera Type: Dark - Sludge Bomb - Taunt - Will-O-Wisp - Protect
Historically, Weezing has seen use as a Neutralizing Gas disruptor with the above set.
Very standard set, not much to talk about. Even with the Galarian form, you still run relatively similar sets, with the STAB being the differential. Both sets were more defensively invested as well.
Recently, Wolfe Glicke showcased a very different approach to this Pokémon in the Baltimore Regionals:
Even though this is the same Pokémon with the same ability, it now fulfils a different role as a disruptive offensive Pokémon with meta-relevant coverage.
It might not be something groundbreaking to realise that changing up a Pokémon's item and moveset creates a different role for them, but the ability to visualise a different utilisation of said Pokémon is a skill in itself. Not all Pokémon can perform a role-switch and not all players are able to even consider sets outside the norm. Building upon this point, it is then important to recognise the limitations of your set and to accept whether or not another piece would be better.
Niche choices are always going to be contextual, far more so than your regular picks due to the specific nature of their usages.
To exemplify this, let me break down a hypothetical consideration for yet another set for Weezing as a "step up" from the previous sets.
- We establish Weezing can run two different sets with the same ability due to the value gleamed from Neutralizing Gas. In particular, the Galarian-Weezing set showcased by Wolfe has meta-relevant offensive coverage and defensive coverage within Regulation H
- The value gained from Neutralizing Gas within certain team archetypes is fairly specific. Due to it's double-edged nature, it is not always a beneficial ability and can limit your options.
- Currently, at the time of writing, Dragapult and Sneasler has been a very strong combination with little in way of dealing with their myriad of offensive tools. Other meta Pokémon include P2-Ursaluna, Rillaboom, and Indeedee-F + Hatterene (Psyspam)
So perhaps we can pivot in another direction:
- We retain our desired offensive/defensive typing
- We remove Neutralising Gas, increasing the range of teams of which this piece can fit. For example, if you want Incineroar, you don't need to run Ability Shield anymore!
- Misty Surge being a unique ability only available to G-Weezing to trigger Misty Terrain upon switch-in, the benefit of which include reduced Dragon-type damage towards grounded units, with said grounded units being immune to status effects. This ability also overwrites any existing Terrains.
- This means you can reduce Dragapult's damage output, remove Sneasler's status potential, prevent Guts on Ursaluna, and remove Grassy Terrain and Psychic Terrain.
- Dragapult has Clear Body anyways, so unless you had Ability Shield on your Intimidator and Neutralizing Gas active, you wouldn't be able to reduce the damage output otherwise.
Even with a single Ability change, we've created an entirely new niche for the same Pokémon. Just goes to show how far a little understanding of common usage stats can be beneficial when choosing your piece.
To break down this example:
- We made a pros and cons list between the different sets.
- We accounted for the meta-game and current state of play.
- We then established a new theoretical set that one can test.
But what about something that rarely sees play? What do we do then?
New Piece Theory, [and a Team Report???]
The same process is going to apply here, just that you might require a bit more trial and error to be done through your own play. Additionally, a new team archetype might be necessary to fully bring out your choice's intentions in play.
For this section's example, I will be showcasing a full team I developed with a pick that has only 0.04% usage at time or writing.
Galvantula @ Focus Sash Ability: Compound Eyes Tera Type: Stellar / Ghost EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Timid Nature
- Electroweb - Bug Buzz - Screech - Protect
Now, Galvantula has always been one of my favourite Pokémon which really doesn't see much play. The reason being it simply is a weak Pokémon. It's not offensively impressive, its Abilities aren't particularly impactful on first glance, its typing leaves much to be desired, and its stats aren't particularly impressive.
Yet it still has a niche to me, at least.
Within the three points:
- Ideal defensive typing
- Unique Ability
- Specific moveset combination
Galvantula actually fulfils 2 out of 3 of the criteria I want it to.
But before I expand on which points it hits, let me explain the overall team concept.
Back in Regulation C, I think, JoeUX9 showcased an Assurance Kingambit team that was paired with Icy Wind Iron Bundle. Ever since then, it has been one of my more favourite combinations due to the power output, offensive flexibility, and self-sufficiency. This led me to develop what I call a TurboGambit team, using a 252 Speed Kingambit of Adamant nature with a Life Orb to fire off surprisingly quicker boosted Assurances.
With Regulation H, I quickly saw my opportunity to have a repeat of this concept. My considerations were:
- Clefable was becoming popular at the time, which made me dislike Mono-Dark Kingambit and I wanted Iron Head.
- The speed-tiers in Regulation H are relatively low.
- Things aren't very bulky at the moment.
- I didn't want to run many inaccurate moves so I can have more consistent pins.
This loops me back to my statement of Galvantula fulfilling 2 out of 3 criteria I wanted for the Iron Bundle replacement:
- With Compound Eyes, it would never miss Electro-Web, giving me accurate Speed Control that can chip, fulfilling Assurance's boosting condition.
- It was the only Pokemon that had a perfectly accurate Screech that can enable physical attackers that can also do the above.
- Galvantula was of a decent enough Speed tier to act as a form of Speed Control.
Upon testing the team, I also realised Bug Buzz and Bug STAB was quite appreciated against a lot of Dark, Psychic, and Grass-types, even if some of them were neutral (Incineroar, Amoonguss, Kingambit).
Going through some of the other options:
- Dragonite felt like another good option due to its complimentary defensive typing, wide coverage, Extreme Speed access, and having one of the highest base ATK stats at the moment. Inner Focus also meant limiting what options the opponent had to mitigate your damage output.
- I liked Tinkaton for Mold Breaker Fake Outs and access to Encore, as when paired with Electroweb it can control boards quite well. The Fairy/Steel-typing was also appreciated both defensively and offensively, especially with Screech access. Gigaton Hammer actually hits hard now!!!
- To round out the composition, I initially wanted either anti-Trick Room options and something to deal with Torkoal/Typhlosion-Hisui. I landed on Chandelure as it could Imprison-Trick Room and has Flash Fire to absorb Eruptions.
- With Trick Room now being an option, I then added Ursaluna as it seemed like a strong pick especially when using Yawn. A non-0 Spe one meant that I could potentially progress the game board to a point where it outspeeds opposing Pokémon. Otherwise it was just a really good Trick Room Pokémon.
So, keep in mind that the team doesn't necessarily play with direct synergy in mind aside from Kingambit. Majority of the pieces can be swapped out with little consequence to the whole team and to Galvantula (our niche pick).
The reason I am pointing this out is due to the common practice of focusing on "synergy". When too many pieces are required for a complicated execution, even one piece being affected can ruin your entire plan. In my opinion, the best practice is to utilise individualistic strengths that grow when practiced together, but not leaning on each other too signifiantly.
Anyways, and as expected, I ran into quite a few issues, and what I'd almost say our ceiling.
Here, we go through our cons. Galvantula isn't our fastest offensive Speed Controller. Something like Alolan-Ninetales and Gengar both have access to Icy Wind, a more accurate move with the premium Ice-type. The former has Weather control and better offensive typing, while Gengar has the Ghost-typing to avoid Fake Out on Turn 1 and hits harder as well.
Additionally, the presence of Pokémon like Garchomp can make some matchups a bit more complicated, due to the immunity Ground-types have to Electric-type moves. Clear Amulet and Covert Cloak being common items can also make things a bit trickier despite clear identification of which Pokémon are using them.
This is the point where, in the preface, I pointed out you have to come to a sort of compromise. I would say I've built a fairly successful Galvantula team (Top 250 of ~75% GXE on 3 different alts), but I also accept that keeping Galvantula becomes a liability after a certain degree. Granted, Galvantula still has that bonus of Screech and never missing an Electroweb, but are those things also worth it?
Moving Beyond
It is an inevitability that your fun teams will fail. Hell, even your serious teams will fail. But failed teams can still give you very valuable insight. You will go through hundreds, if not thousands of different interactions between Pokémon and selecting which interactions you enjoy participating in to help inform ones preferences in teambuilding and playstyle.
These "bad teams" can still have one or two interactions that catches your notice, and sometimes these things can be converted to a more consistent or powerful version. I recommend keeping track of what combinations seem interesting using a notepad alongside the Pokémon involved with their pros and cons list for future ease of reference!
In the midst of writing this long-winded article, I decided to combine the Weezing set with my TurboGambit concept. I have yet to test it, but here it is at a first glance:
I'll be trying to build upon the previous Galvantula team with better coverage and see if it works!
So hopefully this short article has given you a bit more to work with when you approach your future teams. Thank you for reading, and to show my appreciation I will include the rental from the Galvantula team down below! Maybe one of you can build a better version than I can, or learn something from it too.
Galvantula Rental
