Team Builder

I took this team to No. 3,049 with a final Rating of 1,650.398 after playing literally zero Pokemon between Pokemon Sapphire coming out when I was a child and Pokemon Champions beginning in July 2026. This team is stupid easy to use and does what it wants to do well. The formula is: 1) Glimmora lead off into 2) Mega Staraptor mid-game into 3) closer of your choice, with the general default to Basculegion all other things being equal. The idea here is Glimmora is only supposed to sell its life off as expensively as possible while getting hopefully a couple of Toxic Debris drops down, before letting Mega Staraptor get rolling, with U-turn letting you pivot out if needed before letting your two non-Glimmora selections finish the job.

Kamikaze leadoff Glimmora, I'm sure you've never seen this one before! That said, Glimmora is also the single best choice for dealing with Electric types, so plan accordingly on the team preview screen. I generally prefer to use Mortal Spin on all non-Steel/non-Poison type openers, as Glimmora is mainly here to cause havoc and spread Poison status rather than outright win by firepower. That said, if they open up with a Charizard, Power Gem is a OHKO and you should take your opportunities when you see them.

The engine room guy of this team. U-turn is there to pivot out in a pinch, but the way I set him up is to keep hitting Close Combat and stack up your defensive buffs, then stay in the fight with Roost. He's more than capable of tanking Thunderbolts if you max out his defensive buffs, but those tend to be long, long games where several things went wrong for both players.

All hail our lord and savior, big ol zombie carp

I really like to bring Armarouge and Kingambit together to set up a Trick Room run after Glimmora does his piece, but you don't have to do that. I included Armarouge in this lineup mainly because I found myself wanting reliable Fire damage, but I also valued having a Trick Room option during the MSC run.

If I didn't close out with Basculegion, I was probably closing out with Sucker Punch running Kingambit. Again, I liked to bring him with Armarouge using Trick Room, but don't feel beholden to that. I also strongly advocate for Low Kick on him to deal with opposing Kingambits. A further wrinkle I liked was to bring him when I saw the other player was likely running a hard Trick Room team, and when they popped Trick Room, I'd send out my super slow-mo Kingambit and hijack the turn order.

It'll be a cold day in Hell before I build a team without Annihilape on it. Just a reliable, take-it-to-the-bank choice for when I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted/wasn't entirely sure what I would be facing in the match if the team preview screen was confusing me. I didn't bring him in all that often, but when I wanted him, he always carried the match for me.

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Team defense

For each attacking move type, effectiveness against each team member and weakness and resistance totals.

x0.5	x1	x0	x1	x0.5	x0	0	4	+4
x0.5	x1	x0.5	x0.5	x2	x1	1	3	+2
x2	x1	x0.5	x2	x1	x1	2	1	-1
x1	x2	x2	x1	x1	x1	2	0	-2
x1	x0.5	x2	x0.5	x0.5	x1	1	3	+2
x1	x2	x0.5	x0.5	x0.5	x1	1	3	+2
x1	x0.5	x0	x0.5	x4	x0	1	4	+3
x0.25	x1	x0.5	x1	x0	x0.5	0	4	+4
x4	x0	x1	x2	x2	x1	3	1	-2
x0.5	x2	x1	x1	x0.5	x2	2	2	0
x2	x2	x1	x0.5	x0	x2	3	2	-1
x0.5	x0.25	x0.5	x1	x1	x0.25	0	4	+4
x1	x1	x1	x2	x0.5	x0.5	1	2	+1
x1	x1	x2	x2	x0.5	x2	3	1	-2
x1	x1	x1	x1	x0.5	x1	0	1	+1
x1	x0.5	x2	x2	x0.5	x1	2	2	0
x2	x1	x0.5	x0.5	x0.5	x1	1	3	+2
x0.5	x2	x1	x0.5	x1	x2	2	2	0