Hello thots. I am the (in)famous HeavyMetalFairy – mainly known for my crazy theories and gimmicky strategies. Everyone pretty much knows my Smeargle for being a nightmare – mainly because 90% of the time my opponents allow me to set up Geomancy. But when the official first ever PJN tourney was announced, I knew Junglian’s would expect me to run my Geo-Smeargle set, so I figured… why not change its move pool up a bit – and run a full on Baton Pass team. Something I always wanted to do. I’ve been battling competitively since Gen 4, running Baton Pass Ninjask to help set up good physical sweepers that needed the speed – and as time passed with new moves & niche’s I discovered my buddy Smeargle.
So for the PJN tourney I studied upon a good baton pass chain, and figured out one that I could use. A lot of people may think you have no skill for running a full baton pass(BP) team, and may think it’s cheap, but teams are subjective so to each their own. Baton Passing allows me to max out a Pokémon’s potential and exploit the limits of a Pokemon. I’ve always been drawn to that notion. I love chain-sweeping. Unfortunately, in the PJN, I didn’t get a chance to show my full potential because I broke my game (wore down the gold contacts of it) which forced me to forfeit from the tourney since my game didn’t make it back in time. Now… let’s check out the team I used:
Team Overview
[spoiler]
Scolipede
Ability: Speed Boost (HA)
Held Item: Mental Herb
Nature: Timid
IVS: 31/0/31/31/31/31
Moveset:
-Iron Defense
-Protect
-Substitute
-Baton Pass
Ninjask who? Scolipede, the monster, gets Ninjask’s job done much better now that it has Speed Boost (I don’t know what 5th gen was thinking giving it Quick Feet). Much better bulk, and can absorb toxic spikes if it has too. I usually lead off with Scolipede, specially when I’m expecting my opponent to lead off with Ferrothorn. There is nothing Ferro can do. Set up a substitute while it goes for the leech seed, then proceed to trying to get a +6 defense with 3 uses of Iron Defense. Someone wants to “Taunt” you? Laugh at them as Mental Herb washes the effect of Taunt away. It’s needed for all the Prankster users.
EV Spread: 240 HP / 80 Def / 188 Speed
1 protect and you will outspeed Max Jolly Garchomp.
Sylveon
Ability: Pixelate (HA)
Held Item: Leftovers
Nature: Calm
IVS: 31/0/31/31/31/31
Moveset:
-Calm Mind
-Stored Power
-Hyper Voice
-Baton Pass
The two sweepers of my team are Sylveon and Espeon. If I see a lot of Dark types or dragon types on the opponent’s team then I’m forced to try to sweep with Sylveon. You’re ruined if Shedinja is on the opponent’s team though. Apart from that, Sylveon is immensely powerful. Specially with defense & speed boosts from scolipede to make Stored Power stronger.
EV Spread: 216 HP / 208 Def / 84 Speed
At a +2 speed you will outspeed anything slower than a base 112. You don’t want to catch these Hyper Voices though. The defensive investments whilst keeping a Calm nature allows it to take hits from both physical & special dishers.
Vaporeon
Ability: Water Absorb
Held Item: Leftovers/WacanBerry/RedCard
Nature: Bold
IVS: 31/0/31/31/31/31
Moveset:
-Acid Armor
-Roar
-Substitute
-Baton Pass
Arguably Vaporeon & Scolipede are the best defense boosters in the current meta. Specially Vaporeon because it doesn’t have a 4x weakness to anything, and will eat a Gyro Ball from a Ferrothorn if you’re baton passing from Scolipede into Vaporeon. If your enemy tries to set up on you – with, per-say, Dragon Dance, Roar them away and scout them in to a Pokémon that will allow you to further set up.
EV Spread: 192 HP / 252 Def / 64 Speed
Just a monstrously bulky Pokémon. Can take on pretty much any physical hits from any Pokémon – specially couped with Defense boosts. More defense to pass = higher base power for Stored Power.
Espeon
Ability: Magic Bounce (HA)
Held Item: Leftovers/RedCard
Nature: Calm
IVS: 31/0/31/31/31/31
Moveset:
-Calm Mind
-Stored Power
-Substitute/Shadow Ball
-Baton Pass
Espeon, one my sweepers, is a Pokémon I toyed with (EV-wise) on this team. It’s fragile physically, and at the time Aegislash & Talonflame were running wild (I see them less and less used now), so I believe for the PJN tourney I might have maxed out its defense but I’m not too sure. I would sometimes run a unique set with max HP and Defense investment, but I think for this tourney I might have run something different (check EV spread below). Esp is pretty much the poke that I try to send all the baton pass boosts over into. STAB Stored Power is amazing, and I replaced Substitute over time with Shadow Ball so I can have a way of hitting Shedinja & Aegislash. Red Card is too catch an opponent off guard and force switch them out while you set up another Calm Mind. And if I manage to set up Ingrain for recovery with Smeargle, I no longer need to fear Whirlwind or Roar from Skarmory & friends so then I’ll use Sylveon as my sweeper. If you want to run a full baton pass team, try testing these two spreads depending on what you fear the most:
EV Spread: 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 Sp Def
or
EV Spread: 200 HP / 56 Def / 252 Sp Def (I use this one more)
Smeargle
Ability: Own Tempo
Held Item: Focus Sash
Nature: Timid
IVS: 31/0/31/31/31/31
Moveset:
-Ingrain
-Quiver Dance
-Spore
-Baton Pass
Probably one of my top 5 favorite Pokémon of all time. Not only can it learn any move in the game, but it’s a fricken dog that paints with its tail. Can we get any more original than that? My more infamously known Smeargle runs Geomancy with a Power Herb, but this Smeargle I cherish as well – because it’s PERFECT for a full baton pass team. Ingrain is to make sure you can’t get roared or whirlwinded out (breaking your chain) and also for recovery. Spore your foe to sleep, set up a Quiver Dance and get the ball rolling.
EV Spread: 88 HP / 168 Def / 252 Speed
Mr. Mime
Ability: Soundproof
Held Item: Leftovers/Sitrus Berry
Nature: Calm
IVS: 31/0/31/31/31/31
Moveset:
-Calm Mind
-Encore
-Substitute
-Baton Pass
Perfect Pokemon for blocking sound moves (boom burst, roar, perish song, you name it). In the PJN tourney the first match I had was up against RioSpeedWagon, I lost miserably because I mispredicted his Mega Gengar using Perish Song (even forgot it could learn that) and trapped me with Shadow Tag ruining my chain. You have to be careful with your predictions when baton passing. 1 wrong move and you’re wrecked. I later replaced Mr. Mime with Zapdos (due to Talonflame & Pinsir) which I find works MUCH MUCH better. But I couldn’t swap out my Mime for Zapdos or else I would’ve been disqualified (we needed to keep same 6 through the whole tourney) – wish I had discovered Zapdos sooner. Mime still gets the job done, but it’s better to have another sweeper with my Sylveon & Espeon. Mime is great at locking poke’s in with Encore.
EV Spread: 252 HP / 240 Sp Def / 16 Speed
[/spoiler]
Post-Tourney
I thought I would’ve done really well in the tourney if it wasn’t for my game having to under-go repair (which didn’t even happen at all, Nintendo sent me a completely new game). And I can’t wait until I re-build the same team again (minus mr. mime) … Just been busy with work and MM’ing and life in general. But once I get my team rolling again the community is in for some rage quits XD (mwahaha)…
Check out two battle video codes that I managed to save from the tourney to get a feel for how OP this team is:
Vs. Edgardo: G2ZG-WWWW-WWW8-NQZJ
Vs. Nathan: 3CGW-WWWW-WWW8-NR3N
The following video is not from the tourny, but is a demonstration of how great this team sweeps. 6-0 FTW! I’m surprised he didn’t rage quit:
Vs. Sergio: PYSG-WWWW-WWW9-ZTB5
Congrats to the winner of the tourney & everyone that participated. I had fun honestly. I thank you for reading this analysis of my PJN team and I hope you can face my next BP team in the future:
