RANKED Pokémon battles are already underway in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and common teams of Pokémon have already been decided.
However, if you want to be top of your game, you’ll have to use teams that are different to the meta.
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We’ve been watching a lot of competitive Pokémon and finding the funniest pairings that sweep the competition.
Here are the fun Pokémon teams in Scarlet and Violet that you can try out for yourself.
Tatsugiri, Dondozo and Flamigo
This team is already popular at the moment but let us explain how it works.
First, you send out Flamigo and Orange Tatsugiri, and use the Choice Band Flamigo to U-turn into your Tatsugiri to bring in about 70% damage.
Then you send out your Dondozo. It should have Unaware to ignore other opponents’ stat boosts, and your Tatsugiri will be holding Toxic Orb.
Tatsugiri doubles all of Dondozo’s stats. Use Order Up on the next two turns to raise your Attack to x3. When the Tatsugiri faints, bring in your Flamigo with Costar to copy all the stat boosts.
This team is disrupted by opposing Dondozo and Skeledirge who also have Unaware, and a number of other Pokémon that outspeed Flamigo.
It’s only an issue if the faster Pokémon targets Tatsugiri, but if they do you can target them instead with Flamigo, as long as Tatsugiri isn’t one shot.
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Maushold and Annihilape
These two Pokémon are also common in the meta game, but we will be using them in a slightly different way.
There are two ways you can do this. The first is to use Beat Up with your low attack Maushold on Annihilape to hit it four times.
This will power up its Rage Fist to 250 base power which is usually enough to take out most opponents in one hit.
If you are feeling extra spicy, you can tera your Annihilape to Steel-type and hit it with Wide Lens Population Bomb for a 550 power Rage Fist which is probably overkill.
Maushold can then redirect attacks with Encore and Follow Me while Annihilape takes everyone down.
This strategy fails against Normal-types as Rage Fist can’t hit, but they can be taken out by Close Combat.
What’s particularly nice is it’s not affected by Haze, but can be taken out with strong spread moves like Garchomp’s Earthquake.
Scovillian and Dragapult
This combination is far less common but is also as powerful as some of the others.
Dragapult should use Clear Body instead of its usual Infiltrator, so that Scovillian can Spicy Extract its ally.
This gives Dragapult the attack boost, and the Clear Body negates the defence drops.
You can also give it a Mirror Herb to Dragapult and it can copy stat boosts which is strong against Dondozo teams.
Obviously, if the Scovillian goes down it can’t boost its teammate, and once Dragapult goes down, you will need some strong Pokémon in the back to take down the rest.
Sableye and Toxtricity
This is another team that isn’t commonly used but can be powerful if placed against the right opponent.
Sableye has Prankster, which allows it to use support moves first. Fake Out will stop one opponent from attacking, and Quash will make it go last.
As a Ghost-type, it is immune to Toxtricity’s Boomburst, which will be your main damaging move.
Boomburst can gain a huge number of multipliers. Normal-type tera, Punk Rock, and Choice Specs will all boost the power of this already powerful move.
The basic set-up is the Sableye stops the opposing team from attacking while the Toxtricity takes kill after kill.
This of course will not work if the opponent is a Ghost-type as they are immune to the Normal-type Boomburst.
Indeedee and Polteageist
One of the best moves in the game is Shell Smash but so few Pokémon learn it, it can be hard to get into position.
Shell Smash drops defences for a shape raise in both offences and speed, meaning after Polteageist uses this it hits fast and hard.
Weak Armor also means every time Polteageist is hit, it raises its speed.
One Shell Smash will make Stored Power a 140 base power move, two brings it up to 260. Also, you will gain 40 power for every Weak Armor that happens.
Indeedee helps keep your Polteageist alive. Psychic terrain boosts Stored Power’s power, and stops priority moves from working.
It can also learn Light Screen and Reflect to protect Polteageist and Follow Me will stop it from being hit.
Armorouge and Dachsbun
This pair is based on Dachsbun’s ability Well-baked Body which boosts its defence whenever it’s hit with a Fire-type move.
Following our strategy of attacking ourselves, your Armorouge can use Lava Plume to deal big damage to opponents while also boosting Dachsbun’s defence.
The higher Dachsbun’s defence, the more damage it can do with Body Press, aside from the fact that it becomes increasingly more difficult to take down.
For a more offensive take on this, use Torkoal’s Lava Plume into Armorouge, and Flash Fire will boost its special attack.
This strategy doesn’t work against opposing Armorouge or Ceruledge who will gain the same stat boosts you give yourself.
Gengar and Gothitelle
This is a weird pairing that doesn’t always work, but when it does, it’s very funny.
Gothitelle’s ability Shadow Tag stops the other Pokémon from switching, it can then use Calm Mind to increase the power of Stored Power by 40 every turn.
Gengar is there to weaken the opponents who can’t switch.
The risky option is to Trick a Choice item so they can only use one move, and Cursed Body can then force them to Struggle.
Thunder Wave and Will-o-Wisp are the safer options. Taunt can prevent Haze, and Encore and trap them into non-damaging moves.
Unfortunately, Shadow Tag doesn’t work on Ghost-types, and some stronger Pokémon just take out Gothitelle before it’s ready, so be prepared before using this.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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