What are things to consider when making a Trick Room-Team?
I’m not very much a competitive player, and I never really used any “[something]-based” teams before (e.g Rain Teams, Hail Teams, Trick Room teams etc.) - I always build either stall or sweep team. But hey, TR teams sounds very fun so I wanted to try it out.
The thing is, I’m rather bad at these kinds of team-building, and I could really use some help here ;w;
Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.
I’ll explain for OU, as that’s the tier that Trick Room is most viable in. The most reliable way to play Trick Room is with a suicide lead, two setters, two abusers, and Melmetal.
For a suicide lead, you’re looking for a Pokemon with Trick Room and a way to generate momentum. Two good suicide leads that I often use are Uxie and Hatterene. Hatterene is a great Trick Room setter due to it’s ability, Magic Bounce, deterring hazards and Taunt. On the other hand, Uxie can set Stealth Rocks and use Memento to weaken the opponent.
Uxie:
Uxie @ Mental HerbAbility: LevitateEVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpDSassy NatureIVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe- Trick Room- Stealth Rock- Memento- Magic Coat
Mental Herb is the optimal item on Uxie, as it has no attacking moves. You should set up Stealth Rock before setting Trick Room to maximize the remaining turns for the abusers. Magic Coat can bounce back a predicted Taunt after Mental Herb is consumed, as well as a form of anti-hazard. Memento is used instead of U-turn to bring in the abusers safely.
Hatterene:
Hatterene (F) @ Focus SashAbility: Magic BounceEVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpDQuiet NatureIVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe- Trick Room- Psyshock- Mystical Fire- Misty Explosion
You can switch the item on Hatterene to something else if you’d like too, as it stays on the field for about two turns at most. A great alternative to Misty Explosion is Healing Wish, which still generates momentum and stores a free heal for the next damaged Pokemon to switch in. You can try running a Relaxed nature to always live a Surging Strikes from Urshifu-R with a Choice Band, but the extra explosion power is usually worth it.
What you’re looking for in a Trick Room setter is bulk and a good pivoting move. Two Pokemon that fit the bill are Porygon2 and Cresselia. Both of them sport great bulk and a pivoting move in Teleport and Lunar Dance respectively.
Porygon2:
Porygon2 @ EvioliteAbility: TraceEVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpARelaxed NatureIVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe- Trick Room- Ice Beam- Toxic- Teleport
Eviolite bolsters Porygon2’s already good bulk, letting it live many more hits. Ice Beam KO’s or chunks Landorus and Garchomp, but Tri Attack can be run instead. Toxic is great for putting defensive Pokemon on a timer, reducing how long they can stall out your team. Teleport provides some much needed momentum, letting in the abusers safely.
Cresselia:
Cresselia (F) @ LeftoversAbility: LevitateEVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpDSassy NatureIVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe- Trick Room- Moonlight- Moonblast- Lunar Dance
Leftovers provides passive recovery for Cresselia, but other options like Mental Herb are also useful. Lunar Dance fully heals the next damaged Pokemon to switch in, which is great for giving your abusers more longevity. Options like Psyshock and Ice Beam are other options to use instead of Moonblast.
A good abuser has low speed paired with high bulk or attacking stats. Some notable Pokemon that fit these requirements are Conkeldurr, Alolan Marowak, and Crawdaunt. All of these Pokemon have great attacking stats as well as pretty good abilities.
Conkeldurr:
Conkeldurr @ Flame OrbAbility: GutsEVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDBrave NatureIVs: 0 Spe- Drain Punch- Facade- Knock Off- Mach Punch
Conkeldurr is a powerful Guts sweeper with dangerously high attack. Drain Punch can offset the residual damage from Flame Orb, increasing how long it can remain on the field. Facade is great nuetral coverage with a boost from Guts, and Mach Punch is great priority. Knock Off is a way to deal with Ghost types.
Alolan Marowak:
Marowak-Alola @ Thick ClubAbility: Rock HeadEVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDBrave NatureIVs: 0 Spe- Swords Dance- Flare Blitz- Poltergeist- Earthquake
Thick Club acts as a free Swords Dance, making it better than other offensive items like Life Orb or Choice Band. Flare Blitz is strong STAB that takes advantage of Poltergeist. You can use Bonemerang in place of Earthquake to break Substitute and Focus Sash, but Earthquake is much more reliable. A lower power albeit more accurate option is Shadow Bone, which can be used in place of Swords Dance for more reliable Ghost STAB.
Crawdaunt:
Crawdaunt @ Life OrbAbility: AdaptabilityEVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDBrave NatureIVs: 0 Spe- Swords Dance- Aqua Jet- Knock Off- Crabhammer
Crawdaunt is another Swords Dance sweeper with a strong ability, Adaptability, which raises the power of it’s STABs to incredible levels. Aqua Jet can be used to finish off low health Pokemon inside and outside of Trick Room, while Knock Off and Crabhammer serve as powerful STAB.
Melmetal is a must on any Trick Room team, so good that it needs it’s own section. Banded Double Iron Bash does incredible damage to any offensive Pokemon, while still dealing a large chunk to walls and resists.
Melmetal @ Choice BandAbility: Iron FistEVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDBrave NatureIVs: 0 Spe- Double Iron Bash- Earthquake- Superpower- Thunder Punch
Banded Melmetal under Trick Room is a menace, and claims a kill (sorry,faint) almost every time it enters the battlefield. Earthquake is great for the likes of Toxapex and Heatran, while Superpower hits Ferrothorn. Thunder Punch is for Flying types like Corviknight.
Pokepaste
This is the team I use most often, and is assembled with the Pokemon shown above. It features Hatterene as the suicide lead, Porygon2 and Cresselia as the setters, Alolan Marowak and Crawdaunt as the abusers, and, of course, Melmetal.
Basically on a trick room team you want two trick room setters. Setter no 1 should be able to generate momentum in some way, be extra slow, and have a focus sash. A good idea is to focus on tanky Pokémon instead of stallers. Trick room is short so you want to do a ton of damage with minimal setup. Melmetal is a good example of this and steel types typically work nice with the types of most other trick room abusers. The best place to use trick room generally is OU as higher tier Pokémon generally fit in hyper offense or balance teams. One honorable notice also goes to gyro ball as it becomes really powerful during trick room if used on the right Pokémon. Ferrothorn usually abuses this strategy. Crawduant is a really good idea here because his typing helps remove Pokémon that threaten steel types and it is strong in general. I see a lot of physical damage on these teams so include special moves as well. A nice item here is assault vest as you will usually have no setup moves anyway. I like when the second trick room setter is very bulky as it can be reused for some longer battles although those are rare. These are just a few tips. Here you can find a sample team:https://pokepast.es/183655aaccc31310
