Beat Up + TERRAKION is SO STRONG • Pokemon Scarlet/Violet VGC Battles

[@blazingblackness4442]

Game 6 Pincurchin: "We're activating Quark Drive, by ANY...MEANS... NECESSARY!!!"

[@amlothi9043]

Fyi on the floating Metagross: If you switch out a Levitate or Flying Pokemon into a Pokemon that can have a floating animation, you'll see the floating animation. We saw this in past regs with Talonflame into Scream Tail switches Floating metagross is still hilarious

[@Kasaaz]

I noticed it with Gengar too. It's silly.

[@PtylerBeats]

I still don’t understand why they don’t have two different idle animations for mons who are and are not floating, whether that be for levitate, flying type, air balloon, etc… I think it would be cool if when you see a floating Salamence get hit with smack down, you see the Salamence fall to the ground and then stand on the ground for as long as their in play. Or like, if gravity is used, all floating mons get pulled to the ground and revert to their standing idle animation. It feels weird that a bronzong, that obviously isn’t flying type, can be brought out onto the field with heatproof, instead of levitate, and it’ll still float. And you can’t visually tell which ability is has. But logically, you should be able to tell whether a mon is levitating or not. You can see that with your own eyes. Same thing with iron ball on normally floating mons or levitate/air balloon being skill swapped or tricked onto a normally grounded mon or something. These things should be visualized in battle in real time.

[@Kasaaz]

@@PtylerBeats My guess is that was the plan and it just never got finished.

[@CIements]

@@PtylerBeats That would be awesome. I would love flying types to actually land on the ground when roosting too.

[@shivsunil9984]

loved game 5 where Vince Staples used Draco Meteor for 8 damage

[@CybertronVGC]

Vince Staples LOOOL

[@caiobotelho5884]

I’m surprised he didn’t bring pelliper that match for rain plus electro shot

[@vlinhpham2764]

I'm going to my first regionals next weekend and these videos have been a great training tool for me. Thanks Aaron and happy new year!

[@orun713]

The real gift this year is 3 videos in 4 days! Always appreciated!

[@dfgsfhghgsf]

I hadnt yet seen Metagross in-battle, why is IT SO GOOFY

[@scottcrysel]

Lol, i don't know WHY this is the case, but as a bigtime Metagross user i have noticed that when he switches in while tailwind is already active (i believe on either side of field) he floats instead of standing, and yes it is very goofy lol

[@freshfisk7748]

I think metagros was levitating because tornadus was airborne

[@benjackson8494]

i'm pretty sure it's a glitch. I swear the steel BB league trainer's metargross has it's legs touching the ground.

[@giancarloandretorresguzman7717]

@@benjackson8494 because tornadus was the pokemon in metagross slot, since torn was airbone, metagross would be airbone too. idk why but it is designed that way, its not a glitch. a good exxample is scream tail which also has a floating animation

[@ohreally69]

Its not always tho...many mons now have flying and standing animation,idk what causes them to use either one..but metagross doesn't aways float everytime

[@Ninjo2246]

I literally nearly lost to this strategy like 3 hours before seeing this

[@tylervgcx766]

Thank you for the back to back uploads not to mention the timing for me is super ideal (I work nights) Keep up the good work Aaron!!

[@nightmare348]

I love these old strategies that come back with a vengeance. Thanks for explaining them for VGC novices!

[@jamesaditya5254]

I think Paldean Tauros with Intimidate and Mirror Herb had a good showing in one of the earliest regionals bc Kingambit and Annihilape are very prominent

[@HoChiPro]

QOTD: I think we can all agree that Whimsicott is going to be a staple. I also think weather wars between sun and rain are going to occur frequently.

[@SheffiTB]

I think it's certainly easier to build a sun team because all you need to do is put in a bunch of pokemon with protosynthesis and everyone on your team has sun synergy while not depending on it, but it's much harder to do that with rain. Like sure, your urshifu benefits naturally and that's a massive part of the reason to run it, but you can only run like 2 water types probably before it gets too much and it's always scary to run moves like Thunder or Hurricane unless you're confident in getting rain up consistently. It seems like you would have to be a lot more rain-dependent in a rain team than you would be sun-dependent in a sun team. Which isn't necessarily bad, but means you may need to run "bad" pokemon like Pelipper rather than all S tier mons.

[@robertkruger5744]

I’m hoping whimsicott gets a lot of play but I’m hesitant to agree because I think Torn is better

[@iancastro1327]

​@@SheffiTBtornadus gets rain dance

[@SIM0N0WIS]

We can also agree Archaludon is going to be a stapler

[@SheffiTB]

@@iancastro1327 Yes, but what I'm saying is that since rain teams rely more on rain than sun teams do on sun, you might have to have a second rain setter on your team- in which case that second one is probably pelipper, who is, to put it mildly, not a good pokemon.

[@fundlemander]

Terrakion casually destroying whole teams while wearing nothing but a sanitary pad into battle

[@BurningSparks]

Thank you for actually EXPLAINING the team. A lot of people don't and as someone who is wanting to learn VGC, the explanation helps a lot. Thanks man

[@StoicForce]

As a rule of thumb: if I see an intimidater on the opponent's team, I ALWAYS lead my Defiant/Competitive 'mon. You miss every opportunity you don't take in this situation, and it's much harder to pull it off otherwise. P.S. It is now 11:20pm here in England, so New Year's wishes from the future to you, Aaron! Thank-you for all of your efforts and entertainment this year, and here's to an even better 2024!

[@rpjoca4644]

Yes! Yes! I've been using a team with this since the regulation was announced. I got high on showdown ladder, did decently well in the Tommy tour, and still no one believed it was good

[@LavaCakes-g1g]

CYBER TRON ZHENG WITH 3 uploads in a week! What a goat giving us great content !

[@mr.truffles9294]

Oh, after the walking wake video, I was expecting the Weakness policy ghost Terra terrakion.

[@nvo_beejay]

I love seeing these old strategies make an appearance.

[@jeffbyrd9250]

48:00 gotta ask Wolfey. He's good at pronouncing the names

[@Kasaaz]

Terrakion, like Sudowudo looks like it's made of felt. They made most mons look way cooler this gen, but somehow 'rock' texture looks the softest of all.

[@RelanxStars]

On the electro shot turn from the stapler moon blast into amoongus and mirror coat would have been a great play.

[@andystephon871]

I absolutely adore the imagery of sweet little whimsicott riding terrakion into battle beating it rear with its tiny hands to power up its justify hahahah

[@Deoxys_Used_Mimic]

I might’ve missed it, but what’s the thought behind Tera Poison over Tera Flying on Terrakion? Is it just for the Fairy resist? Flying resists grass and fighting just like poison, but it’s also neutral to psychic and immune to ground; two more of Terrakion’s weaknesses. Mm… maybe it’s too risky to be weak to an opposing rock slide, I suppose. It might require wide guard support, then.

[@DragonairJordan23]

I'm so excited for reg F regionals :> the meta is developing so quickly

[@EvilToe]

QOTD: Maybe controversial, but I think Gouging Fire is going to prove itself to be much more of a staple in sun teams than Walking Wake. Wake is certainly strong, and the option to have a water type on a sun team is an interesting dynamic, but it's also kind of a one trick pony that is pretty easy to put pressure on. Gouging Fire on the other hand is a lot bulkier and has much more variety, from defensive variants with Burning Bulwark and Breaking Swipe to a more offensive option with Dragon Dance + Flare Blitz. It even has options like Howl, Noble Roar, and Dragon Cheer for some utility, and it even has access to Stomping Tantrum, Temper Flare, and Raging Fury for some surprise KOs.

[@rooislangwtf]

Why not both?

[@_YaYi]

Thank you for the video! For the QOTD: I'd say Psy Terrain is gonna be more present early on with Expanding Force distribution and as a way to deal with Fake out and Prankster. Trick Room may also be rampant with Psy Terrain strat due to Indeedee and mons like Armarouge and Hatterene who naturally like Trick Room

[@cyberrb25]

I would've expected Upper Hand to work as well on Priority moves that target an opponent (also triggering for stuff like Taunt). This way, it mostly feels like a Fake Out blocker.

[@cyberrb25]

I feel like the play on minute 56:00 was more Misty Terrain + Mirror Coat - Misty to retain the protection against Spore, and Amoonguss is almost never going to Pollen Puff against Milotic (

[@PokeProfessorJosh]

Whoa! Late night upload! I'm here for it. Timely too, I just got rocked by this team while working on one of my challenges. I had to skip through your video real quick to make sure it wasn't you haha!!

[@TheSpaceOpera]

I think Upper Hand is a really cool concept, but the fact that it doesn’t work on non-damaging priority moves is a real hurt that makes it too prediction-reliant and really punishing if you miss-predict. If it worked on non-damaging priority moves it would have significantly more use cases

[@YaBoyK1]

Lol Your face when the Incin popped the mirror herb, truly priceless

[@haydeniskander5306]

In Game 5, I was really hoping for you to use Mirror Coat! Would that have KO'd the Archaludon after Ice Beam chip?

[@inexorableveracity]

That game 4 mirror herb was hilarious. great games. i think i'm gonna try out this team.

[@Pokebilities]

48:08 "the big stapler" 😂 it's a bridge

[@DidTheMarinersWin]

Decided to play Sword and Shield Series 5 for a mix up, I see. But to be serious, Beat Up teams are some of my favorite for casual battling.

[@biawak1444]

Been a while since ive some aaron cybertron zheng. Nice to see that ur doing all right. For the QOTD: i believe that there will be a lot of debate between flutter and incineroar.

[@GraceZhang-x7v]

Very cool team! However, I was wondering if this team was optimal in bo3 or should this team be only used in bo1?

[@hardhoofdful]

Loooo0000ooooo000ng episodes or something like that, thanks Aaron❤

[@SpiderDil]

I was interested so I checked, game 4 crit on Incineroar probably mattered. The most common set for incin right now according to pikalytics is Careful 236/4/100/0/156/12. +6 max attack, double target rock slide from Terrakion only does 81-96%. Since it had mirror herb it could have been an offensive set so I checked the least bulky set on pikalytics (adamant, max HP, max ATK). In that case it was a 37.5% chance to OHKO.

[@NYSeaNile]

Dope video. Definitely going to use this team. Just wished you showcased a game against a trickroom team! I always get b2b trickroom teams.

[@Alphahunter456]

some pokemons' models have a floating animation whenever tailwind is on the field!

[@dr.yatusrii]

Aaron, showcase sniper kingdra with dragon cheer support

[@joshuavgc4160]

happy new years everyone! Been a great year of road to rank.

[@BraveFrontierRemeberer]

Honestly surprised I was sick of just seeing meta.jpg and people saying it was a riveting new team with just 1 random pick… this, this was good I like this

[@nerdlord7994]

I know this is an older video, but in game 5 when archaludon took the outrage, it had already been buffed by stamina

[@Kasaaz]

Everyone is so afraid of Covert Cloak Whimsicot now that they never fake out.

[@professorstringbean]

What a perfect video for me to watch while I soft reset for Shiny Terrakion

[@elijones1007]

First comment 🎉 yeah. You rock Aaron Cybertron! I seen someone use weakness policy on terrakion Tera type ghost caught me off guard

[@cyberrb25]

14:44 "Felt cute, might delete [Regidraco] later"

[@Tonybogues-rg3yk]

whats the website/software being used for the team breakdown portion of these videos?

[@RedStriker212]

*QOTD:* Hoo boy. So, having played since Nov. 2011 (early '12 season), there were a few things that jumped out to me in terms of what to expect as common staples, as well as generally common (but not fully "staple") Mons when stuff was gradually revealed. Let's see here... - Incin is gonna Incin; I don't think anything will really knock it out of top three in usage. - Cott is gonna Cott. A lot of people talk about Gen. 5 for all the Fighting-types that were ever-present, but can we also talk about the influential Grass-types it introduced? Along with the likes of Amoonguss, Cott has been staple in every meta it has ever touched. Easy prediction. - TerraCott will die out. It'll still see some usage, but I think with VGC '24 resembling more of '12/'13 as opposed to '11, one thing I recall from those years ago is how TerraCott was seen in the early meta as people were trying to figure things out. Eventually, when the meta finally established itself a couple months in, it dropped off significantly. This was, of course, before dynamic Speed control was programmed into the game, and with Pokemon like the Base 110 Speed Latios around, it's not hard to see why usage waned. Even so, I suspect a similar macro pattern will find its way in. - Weather wars will see a gradual incline. I don't think they'll be as bad as we've seen in the past ('12, '16, and '19 coming to mind in particular), but another side-effect to people finally figuring things out is figuring out the tolerances for both their favored Weather, as well as the tolerances for what enemy Weather can withstand. Think about it: Protosynthesis was a big boost to Sun viability; we now have most of the Swift Swimmer Pokemon back (Kingdra has potential to rise with time); most Prankster users have one or both moves between Rain Dance and Sunny Day; Rain has Bleakwind/Wildbolt/Sandsear/the bridge's High Mega Cannon beam move, and so on. Sand will lag, but I think Excadrill being back could be significant, as Ground/Steel STAB with more Speed than Booster Speed Flutter isn't nothing. - Iron Hands will drop off. I mean, *drop* drop. Incin with Intimidate and Parting Shot stifles Hands' former role as an effective lead option outside of Clear Amulet sets (never mind that Incin can have WoW or Knock), and; having used Hands for a bulk of my time in late Reg. C and most of Reg. D, being Intimidate shuffled to no end blows. Non-AV sets can no longer fulfill their roles as counter-intuitive Flutter threats, and will also generally hate seeing Psyspam 2.0, and; non-Clear Amulet sets get shuffled on, preventing an effective Heavy Slam KO, anyway. At this rate, and at this point, there are other Electric- and/or Fighting-types people might want to run on their teams (Terrakion, Raging Bolt, and Annihilape to name a few). Its best role will be as a backrow TR sweeper. - H-Arcanine will also drop, but not as hard. Rock Slide still has to be respected by anyone using Torn/Incin support comps that sometimes lead with both, and really, being resistant to Bleakwind and immune to WoW is huge tbh. Entei and Gouging Fire are solid Fire picks with comparable stats to (H-)Arc, don't get me wrong; but, the three individually fulfill niches that the other still can't. I think seeing these three struggle with each other in usage will be interesting. Also gonna say it, but H-Arc isn't winning Portland one week from now. . . . That's about all that I have without over-extending predictions. Tbh, I wish this meta lasted for the whole year. Seeing these predictions and comparing them to upwards of nine months of data by the end was always fun to do, and while some complain that they get tired of the same meta, I found that in the past, metas would be self-sustaining in how fresh they were because people didn't expect that it would end after so long-- the meta adaptations could get nutty. Still glad that they're willing to push a meta as long as four months regardless. Edit: You know what, no, eff it: H-Arc isn't making it to Top 4 of Portland Regionals 2023.

[@BIGBOY1996-pu5wz]

at 21:43 the gholdengo sparkled, the only way to get a shiny Gholdengo was to get a shiny Gimmighoul through the tera raid which theres only a 1/4103 chance of it being shiny, I might be wrong but I believe the last time there was a ghimmighoul tera raid was july of 2023. So either the person who made this team is really lucky or they hacked it in :/

[@Shiradrenaline]

Two self crits while Beating Up into a crit onto Incineroar in Game 4. RNG is truly wild. On a side note, can you believe that Terrakion fell to PU in singles? It's wild how different the metagames are between the formats. I love it when 'bad' singles mons clean house in VGC.

[@ryansosna3432]

I'll be picking up the dlc's soon, I'm excited! How's my boy tyranitar looking in the meta?

[@apeckx5090]

I did this same tactic with arcanine and mousehold in reg c! It was such a wicked team!

[@Zaltiz]

Hey Aaron, I was just wondering if you were ever going to play through the DLCs so we can hear their new music as the battle BGM. Not a huge deal but I notice it is only base game music in the background. Also, happy new year!

[@ryanmcleod8227]

2 questions? 1 why would tera whims prevent spore? And what are you talking about best of 3?

[@SaltyMaud]

I ran whimsicott-terrakion with quick guard in the past, but upper hand is interesting too. Fun team, but a little gimmicky and risky, definitely needs a stong backline to fall back on if beat up-justified shenanigans don't work out.

[@DFPWeaponX]

Does alluring voice work against big staplers electroshot?

[@bharatmadempudi3322]

Look at Aaron giving tips to beat the team as well, knowing what a beast team he is releasing to the masses :P

[@Shiradrenaline]

The online ladder, wondering where Aaron 'Cybertron' Zheng is, not realizing it's its own fault that it's not open for him to climb and provide live commentary as he goes: 🥺

[@mr.truffles9294]

I'll watch this while waiting for the new year celebration

[@GoGoSqueezeWorksToo]

Any merit in using Brambleghast beat up with infiltrator? Like terrakion protects to avoid opponents moves while your own infiltrator brambleghast uses beat up to hit past protect.

[@ratgrave57]

whimsicott just has a lot more support

[@MashaKrupenkin]

I might be wrong, but doesn’t this team feel super weak to torn-ursh?

[@warhorseman8680]

Assault vest works with Mirror Coat?

[@tovar_9565]

Can someone please tell me why I can't enter the team into battle? It says that Terrakion and Incen are not allowed. I am going into double battles ranked.

[@CybertronVGC]

I’m playing in Casual Battles - the ranked ladder hasn’t updated for the new rules. You can use it in Ranked once the rules change in Jan 4th

[@yoko3182]

I still think Justified Beat Up is the funniest team combo name.

[@gtgamingoficial4153]

What do you think about a bulky braviary with defiant?

[@Aj-fn8wx]

I feel like Archaludon is being slept on fr. I’ve been having a blast with tera bug amd beat up maushold.

[@Emvymcla]

rock fighting is an insane offensive combo

[@crayonstik9919]

Big stapler is the best name for archaludon I’ve heard yet

[@daniellarge4888]

Is there any reason why dragonite is used over entei?

[@Midwest_ern]

QOTD: Raging Bolt will be top tier, Entei usage will higher than we all first expected, Whimsicott will see play but less than we expected, Smeargle may find a small niche but will be largely bad and definitely disappointing.

[@wntriam]

Why smeargle disappointment

[@insertnameheretf]

@@wntriam Urshifu-R outspeeds and invalidates Focus Sash. Incineroar, Iron Hands, Rillaboom are all better Fake Out mons. When Incin/Ursh/Rilla is the main FWG core, Smeargle really struggles to find any kind of niche.

[@winterwatson6437]

would flying tera be better on terrakion? resists grass and fighting plus ground immunity

[@winterwatson6437]

lol i shoulda waited to comment-you just called out this exact thing

[@luisfelipecalle]

Baby girl energy on max! Love to see it❤

[@sebyinho]

I was actually thinking of a beat up virizion team? so beat up virizion and then have rilaboom set grassy terrain so that virizion can use grassy glide. I plan on trying it next season on ladder 🤷🏻 unless it can't learn grassy glide lol

[@WishmkrJirachi]

Does alluring voice work on the paradox boosts?

[@itztaytay2]

No, they aren't typical stat changes

[@scottcrysel]

I love having follow me against this strat so the little cottonball does like 5 damage to you and Terrakion gets no boost lol. I will say i like the covert cloak on Terrakion here though. I love all the viable new strats in Reg F so far and the season hasn't even officially started!

[@natcole5981]

I like the cloak on terrakion a lot, ive been getting shut down w cloak whims

[@ktntwireless]

“The big stapler” is all I’m going to refer Archaludon as from now on I agree this is better

[@ninjendo1087]

How do I make whimsicott learn beat up in this game? Research isn’t telling me anything 😭💯

[@iceseic]

cottonee learn it as egg move, just evolve it without touching the moveset

[@ericrice4844]

Lez go Big Stapler!

[@fernandosepulvedatapia2329]

Why not use flying tera on terrakion? You get rid of ground and fighting weakness.

[@wavyflac]

this!! this was the strategy that got me into doubles and VGC!!!!! I remember my friend's older brother explaining how the strategy worked to me and having my little kid mind blown haha. Glad to see it return

[@kryoling]

Flying tera on the Terakion maybe? then you dont retain any of your weaknesses?

[@VivaBoricua93]

Does upper hand not go before fake out?

[@CybertronVGC]

They're in the same priority bracket so it can go before Fake Out, but not always

[@DonYagamoth]

I wonder - for game 3, could a solution have been to just ignore Goodra, and keep knocking out all the partners? Because it likely couldn't really touch Gholdengo with any of it's attacks Although I'd guess Milotic was already too low on HP at that point

[@xCateyez]

In theory since you have Covert Cloak on Terrakion you could give Whimsicott King's Rock for a decent flinch chance when attacking opponents.

[@cat8506]

that incineroar had my mouth agape...

[@brandonking728]

For some reason it’s not letting me play with this team

[@CybertronVGC]

These battles are on the casual ladder, ranked hasn't updated with the new rules - it updates on Jan 4th

[@brandonking728]

@@CybertronVGC thank you

[@shneakydrew2336]

that mirror herb holy

[@wolfherojohnson2766]

Since Upper Hand has higher priority than Extreme Speed, you could theoretically one shot Incin with it

[@JustNightm9re]

I cant wait until cybertronvgc makes a video about latias

[@PurifiedShino]

Any time I see a shiny team I instantly think they're genned.

[@gbrick1141]

Grass ogerpon with defiant is slept on rn imo

[@shadownexusxdoac8634]

I’ve been running Defiant Ogerpon and MAN! This thing against intimidate or any mons that I know run stat drops has been so much fun

[@T-01-32]

the weather mechanic if just domain domanion clashing from jjk now

[@angelitabecerra]

Yo, what's up with Metagross? Why have legs if you're not going to use them? This model doesn't make sense unless you're giving it levitate

[@shadownexusxdoac8634]

Wait how is the Metagross doing that!? Lol mine is always on its arms/legs in battle 😂

[@filipereis4721]

I remember people using this with dynamax terrakion

[@keithpalacios11]

Does anyone else need assistance getting Rayquaza, Kyurem and Necrozma? I've got no one to play with. I'd appreciate it! Thanks again.