Typhlosion Eruption/Trick Room Team Optimization Assistance!
Hello, I’ve recently started getting more into VGC on Champions and I recently hit Master Ball with this team after hitting Ultra with a previous iteration of team. I was curious if anybody had some suggestions for optimization. I really want to compete in this upcoming August Tournament on Champions, and before I entered I wanted to look for any sort of optimizations I may be able to make.
TL;DR I know it’s a long post, but the top paragraph and the bottom two are a good summary of my thoughts, anything is welcome though!
The core is really Typhlosion, Farigaraf, and Torkoal.
>Typhlosion - Hisui (Choice Scarf) max speed max special attack. The dream play is to hit Eruption over and over, but of course with that ghost typing I’ve definitely hit a shadow ball on a Basculegion and OHKO’d to get it out the way, so very versatile. I will sometimes hit an eruption and swap out on turn 2 to get some good damage in there.
>Farigaraf (Sitrus)- fully invested into HP and Phys and SpeD, Armor tail ability shuts down priority moves so typhlosion always goes first, has helping hand to make the move stronger. We used to have another attack move, but found that leading farig so often led me to give it helping hand for Typhlosion. And of course, has trick room so that farig, a slower Pokémon will tend to go second only to…
>Torkoal (Leftovers) - max defense, with invests into HP and SpeD who sets the sun to make typhlosion’s eruption stronger, is slow so usually goes first in trick room, also has solar beam which takes 1 turn to charge in sunlight and also a direct counter to water types, has leftovers bc he’s so bulky and protect to get the most use out of it. Also has body press since we don’t really have a lot of fighting type moves and that is good against types we are weak against.
>Garchomp (Life Orb) - Wanted a fast, bulky, heavy hitting physical attacker outside of trick room, has good attack coverage. Since it doesn’t synergize well I’m going to take out earthquake and give him high horsepower.
>Weavile (Focus Sash) - fast, heavy hitting physical attacker that also has priority moves like fake out that make a Pokémon flinch to keep control over the game, has ice type moves that deal with rock, ground, and dragon, which are pretty major weaknesses for us.
>Primarina (Expert Sash)- kind of ties everything together with strong special attack and decent bulk, has two moves that hit both Pokémon, a priority water attack, and an ice move too.
Thoughts and Observations:
>The one thing that gives me consistent trouble right now are water/rain teams, since I don’t have like any hard counters, farig has thunderbolt, and torkoal has solar beam, but it’s not as reliable as I would like and I usually bring Farig in those matchups, but sometimes I don’t take torkoal because of the type disadvantage. In previous iterations I had Snorlax with seed bomb for a bulky trick room phys attacker and farig had energy ball, but that seemed redundant.
>I’d say the weakest links in the team are surprisingly Garchomp. I don’t take Garchomp as much as you might think, he just doesn’t synergize as well with the team.
>Weavile is good but kind of brittle, which is why he has the focus sash, but since I have investment in HP I’m wondering if I should put that elsewhere, if he’s already brittle and has the sash. I have definitely seen him tank a bit without the sash before though and I don’t feel like 162 is low either.
>If based on type matchups I’m hoping to lean into trick room and farig loses before it can get it off, then that’s really tough for me, but I don’t think it warrants bringing another setter, idk if optimization for this is something I can do tactically or different EV investments.
>I also wish that I could fit some kind of tailwind setter as well, I like the idea of having both a Tailwind and Trick Room user on my team, but I didn’t quite get there with this iteration of the team. I’ve had whimsicott in the past for this reason. I also don’t have a lot of maneuverability on this team, like no switch out moves, I’m not sure if that is able to be added here at all, but it is a thought I had.
>My initial vision for this team had Toxicroak in the Weavile slot for his poison touch ability, synergizing with infernal parade with Typhlosion, who would have close combat, as well as being one of the only Pokémon with the ability to use sucker punch and fake out (I don’t have one tho lol) and so he would take the role of Weavile, I’ve definitely thought of putting sneasler on this team as well for similar reasons (I also don’t have one lol), so I’m open to optimization for that kind of fast, glass cannon spot that I’m using Weavile in.
I don’t think this team has to be completely revamped, it is quite unique and I think that can kind of catch people off guard. I find that Typhlosion, Torkoal, Weavile, and Primarina’s move sets really work for me. Farig’s is definitely open, and as for Garchomp, I can’t help but think that slot could be filled by somebody else, but I don’t want to think to rashly. He’s always been a part of my teams in Champions and is one of the most used for a reason, it could be me who is using him wrong.
I typed a lot so if you read everything I really appreciate it, I am open to hearing any and all advice, I know this team isn’t so “meta” but Typhlosion is one of my favorite Pokémon and that was kind of the vision to build around him and found this excellent team along the way. Thank you in advance for your thoughts!