How to Counter Meta Teams: Pokémon VGC Strategy Guide
Summary
The Pokémon Champions | VGC Battles & Tournaments server is diving deep into the current competitive meta following the latest championship. This discussion focuses on effective strategies to counter dominant teams, specifically Wolfe's sand team and the Mega Floette/Delphox core. Community members share insights on using Trick Room, Conkeldurr, and specific support mons like Sableye to gain an edge in high-level VGC battles.
Alright yall Indy championship is over so we're gonna see the same two teams on ladder for the next week: Wolfe's sand team with Steelix and the winning team, which uses Mega Floette and Mega Delphox. What are y'all's ideas for hard countering these teams?
So far I'm looking at TR at being good here. Farigiraf, Sinistcha, Kingambit, Torkoal and The Conk.
Ehhhh
Tr yes
I haven’t faced the winning team yet !
Wolfie hype to real
I got conkelduer because it hits t tar and steelix but kept my tr core intact by just swapping it with king
You may need fake out on the team
Only mons I can think of that work for tr fake would be incin sableye and liepard
Depending how bulky and not offensive your setter is you may need one of these guys to be offensive ^
But you have to decide what type of conk you play
He has two main modes
One requires he be burned
One changes his moveset
Can't blastoise work on TR?
I did iron fist I cannot do the self burn haha
Very well tbh
Iron fist would be my recommendation if you invest atk and hp
Yeah no flame orb for guts so I'm going iron fist
You just will o wisp
Probably the weakest part of wolfe's team was that both the megas are weak to similar things so if you are able to get rid of the supporting cast, the megas become extremely vulnerable
Sableye does it very well
Will o wisp prankster on conk then guts procs and you sweep
I would also recommend removing the giraffe in favor of the monkey
If you go iron fist
Also intimidate is rly good into wolfe's team. I could see paldean tauros being rly insane matchup wise for it
Double drain punch is a very good sustain and can really swing games
The winning team uses feint shenanigans and Wolfe uses fake out, so I thought the stupid fucking giraffe was well positioned
I beat the team today by drain punching and ice punching
The sustain kept conk alive to end
Ohko t tar
And won out of tr with Mach punch
The yard + floette team right?
Instruct, makes conk a one turn removal bomb
Delphox and Floette
I remember the winning team havind yard tho
I have no info on winning team yet
Discord sent us an expired image link.
Just this
Singular fake outs matter not at all in the face of conk absolutely yamming them hahaha
You’re right. I’m talking about the cybertron video where the world champion made a team
Evan I think
Especially with inner focus on monke, just protect conk the turn you are vulnerable to fake out and it denies all pressure
Oh ya, I mostly counter that team with scissor, dragonite and roar incin
Ooh roar forgot about that
Blastoise learns roar
An opposing teacup goes good into wolfeys team too minus the talonflame and sneazler
Dragonite is clearly rly good based on its finishes
Makes me feel validated
And honestly..
https://pokepast.es/9ad0f11189a7d74f
Funny that only one of the top 8 even had yard
Golurk isn't bad into those two
I notice a fair bit of froslas also
Goatlurk?!
Moves and abilities need swapped but every option to hard wall both megas is right there
That's an old team but it still works
Also talonflame was kinda low useage yet it’s there twice ?
https://pokepast.es/1ecb37715cc12432
Better now
I have wanted to try a spiritomb or sableye tr with conk, and hit him with a will wisp next turn. I just haven't run the damage calcs to make sure he can oh ko delphonzo or floette. I was also leaning towards sable eye for gravity but these are just thoughts to chew on
I think its not to double up on weaknesses, with poltergeist being weak to ice and flying I dont think they wanted to share weaknesses with whinsicott and aero
Seems to of worked for them both are in top 5 or whatever
Couldn't save wolf from the sleep powder tho. Big sad tears
I used sableye and rotom wash as my burn procs for tr
Depending on the coverage needed
Sableye is the better option, as you can disable anything that threatens you severely
And foul play nukes the fish
So far iron fist feels like it’s doing enough damage I only started using him again today tho
Quash is also insanely good
This is how I normally run him since no flame orb
I think i like rotom more. Not having two mons fold to a light of ruin would be good
T punch ice punch drain punch protect max hp max atk adamant
Leftovers
Yeah the coverage is why I lean that way myself
However, you don't need to ohko phox
You just need to 2hko
With monke
Can still remove threat same turn
I like the different punch coverage but Mach punch did win me the game today
I use conk over king so that Mach punch is similar to kings sucker punch in the end game clean up haha
I like mach and do sometimes swap protect for it
But my style of play just eliminates hazards with or without prio 😂
He can die to special attacks really easy kinda sad but his still worth it.
I dont think wash is the best due to the solar beam , matcha gotcha and other relatively common grass mons.
Why his coverage is so important
Well, with the team I use him on polty removes sinistcha, ice punch nukes grass mons
I just have to outspeed
Normal yard investment is garunteed to lose against a thunder punch double up as well haha
So I’m thinking I switch gambit for Rotom wash and switch my mega blastoise for something else too
Golurk brotha
https://tenor.com/view/mando-way-this-is-the-way-mandalorian-star-wars-gif-18467370
Oh yeah goatlurk I forgot
Shame on me
Unless you really wanna put the shiesty on
Then you whip out the chandelure tr
Then switch the tortoise?
Or keep him?
Tork?
Or blast
Tork
Depends on if you want to go chandelure or not
If you go golurk yes remove him
Goatlurk is too cool. Ok. Now the team is Golurk, Monke, the Conk, the teacup, washing machine.
I still need a sixth
Incineroar
You need slow fake out pressure
It all depends on how the open and set up of trick room goes, i suppose
And roar could work. Ok incin it is
Snarl is very good on incin in tr setups
https://pokepast.es/1ecb37715cc12432
Literally the team. Play test and form it to your style
Oh cool lol
Thanks
Strength sap is interesting
Strength sap is so good , insert spaghetti slurp noise
I'm just surprised theres no secondary TR setter. Usually you see that. I guess the answer is just 'position your monkey better and it's not an issue'
I was also looking at wide guard on the conk to cover for earthquake and heat wave
Thats pretty good. You can get a "double protect" with rage powder to keep your cock safe.
My what?
lol 😂
Wide gaurd is cool but actually clicking it at the right time is a skill thing
Also on ladder they don’t get to see if you have it
That alone causes misplays haha
that's why I was considering it
Also Wolfe runs thunderbolt on his washing machine instead of volt switch. Basically just going for raw damage along with leftovers as the item
Seems good
I had thunderbolt
But it's a defensive swap on most of the time
And a week ago everyone would’ve said thunderbolt isn’t as optimal as volt switch
People are fucking stupid
Which means the pivot has more value to me to cycle intimidates
I think voltswitch is too good of a move with hospitality sinistcha. I get the damage is nice
Tbolt isn't necessary when you have thunder punch conk
Just wanted to air an alternative
The pivot is the real value
Also tru
It's funny seeing shell bell
I think I'm gonna go with Kasib berry tho
Kasib is fine
I just like to play my sinistcha offensively
Does shell bell proc twice with matcha?
Yes
Hmmmm
As well as with strength sap
Is this was wolfey was doing ?
What*
No that's what I do
In my pokepaste haha
Pretty sure his Sinistcha had kasib
It’s really cool with life dew and hospitality
A lot of sustain going on
And drain punch on the conk
And light screen on wash
Yeah that’s a interesting team idea tbh haha
Jeez and parting shot with intimidate
Why have one wall when you could have six lol
I've been liking Passho Berry on incin. Protects from scary Basc wave crashes, but Sitrus is funny because even more healing
Very much a bulk mode team
Similar team I can think of like this is like rillaboom milotic amongus and ho oh
They all just stick around regenerating on switch ins
Grassy terrain life sustain and the Milo usually has leftovers and recover
I'll play some games with shell bell to try it out but if I get hoed by the fih then I'm switching back
It isn't your counter to fih lmao
Yeah but fih is scary
Rage powder thunder punch
He's got all those teeth
https://tenor.com/view/book-of-boba-fett-the-mandalorian-this-is-the-way-the-book-of-boba-fett-mandalorian-gif-24825263
Nah just built to be hyper offensive and live basic counters at the very least to a roll
I build tr simple
Gonna try it in SD
Give yourself time to get use to the team
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9championsvgc2026regma-2622448133-panoai3t8n4errq1v8lnenf3c1dcdb1pw
https://tenor.com/view/mandalorian-this-is-the-way-gif-24826742
Is there a way to make the Showdown battle window full screen?
Yeah conk may be better then him in all honesty judging by how he counters a lot of the meta
Nah the Lurk is goated
https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/battle-gen9championsvgc2026regma-2622462150
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9championsvgc2026regma-2622462150
Nah bro there's a reason he's called Goatlurk
Out of everything on wolfe's team I feel like the power of screens, willow wisp rotom is the most important takeaway. Rotom is rly bulky with sitrus and with the screens or willow wisp it can make it hard to ko the rest of the team while being a lot more offensive than sableye is
My friend who has been stuck near 1300 in showdown since he doesn't play very often has recently jumped to close to 1600 with gard + screens willow rotom, making up for gards lackluster physical bulk and lack of important resistances with rotom
https://klipy.com/gifs/noice-nice-4
