Changelog:
-Scizor Replaced with Metagross
-Empoleon Replaced with Magnezone
-Threat List updated with Gliscor
-Tyranitar's Moveset modified
-Gyarados' EV Spread updated
(Changes will be bolded)
OLD TEAM AND STORY
I stopped playing for a long time, but ever since I got a job again, I find myself sometimes craving for something to do during my break. Shoddy showed itself again, and here I am. First off, I'd like to start with my old team that I used to ladder with for a good while. It got me quite far, but it had quite a few shortcomings. First of all, the defensive core was not as stable as I hoped it to be; it stretched across the entire team, which means I had to switch alot. Being Bulky Offense, losing a member of the team almost meant certain defeat, and the first one to go was usually Rotom or Swampert, two of the more important members. Another problem I had was handling stat-uppers in general; SDLucario and DDMence threaten it badly.
(Standard Lead)
(Bulky Gyarados)
(Gimmicky Set with Recover/CM/Dragon Pulse/HP Fire)
(Standard Rotom)
(Standard CB)
(Cursetar)
Coming back to the game after a while, I decided to give the team a revamp. I tried to play a Gyarados-based team, changing his moveset to the more Offensive LO one and playing around with team mates, but none of them ever got off the ground; I didn't have answer to Infernape, Salamence or other popular threats. I also tried using a Roserade lead over Swampert in an attempt to get Momentum quickly, but it seemed to lose out to other leads more than not and how fragile it was was a little disappointing.
After a while, instead of trying to figure out which members to replace, I tinkered around with the defensive core a little. Looking at my team, Tyranitar would make a suitable lead; I moved him there. However, that would mean that I lacked a status absorber. I decided to make Swampert a Cursepert and left it from there. I also replaced HP Fire on Latias with Roar as I also lacked a good Phazer. It seemed to do better from there, but Scizor could only revenge kill so many threats. So, I gave Rotom a Choice Scarf and made it more of a Backup Sweeper/Revenger Killer and counter to Suicune and friends who love to stat up. However, after playing for a while, I found out the real things that threatened my team as a whole; the lack of any real offensive power and not as many resists as I hoped. Looking at my team on Marriland team builder, I decided to replace Swampert with Empoleon; serving as one of the "Core" sweepers together with Gyarados and Latias, my team seemed to go off pretty good from there.
Here's the team as it is now, together with descriptions.
AT A GLANCE
THE LEAD
Tyranitar. He gets things moving.
@Lum Berry
Careful, 252 HP, 126 ATK, 132 SpD
~Stone Edge
~Payback
~Rest
~Stealth Rock
Looking at the top 10 Leads, I realized how Swampert was forced to attack most of them. I wanted to get rocks up quickly as it was pretty important to the team, so I decided to let Tyranitar take the lead instead. Against faster leads like Azelf and Aerodactyl I usually use Stone Edge first and see how they react from there; if not I set up rocks alongside them. Metagross, Swampert, Hippowdon and other slower leads usually let me set up rocks alongside them too, but I have to use Protect if I'm up against something that immediately threatens me, namely Infernape and Machamp. Of course they know I'll switch out, but usually they'll know I'll do so and attempt to one-up me somehow, like Infernape using U-Turn first to nearly kill off my Latias as I switch her to take the incoming Close Combat. There is but one lead that this Tyranitar cannot beat, and that is Ninjask; I usually have to go to Latias to Roar it out, but a smart trainer might catch on and maim it with X-Scissor. I'm considering replacing Protect with Roar and turning Latias into a bulky sweeper instead.
Tyranitar's moveset is also pretty much still floating; I'm thinking of using Crunch instead of Pursuit and Taunt over Protect.
Super-Effective special attacks are soaked up pretty easily because of the Special defense EVs and Sandstorm boost, but stuff like LO Starmie threatens me to no tomorrow. More on that later. Fighting, Steel and Ground type attacks are handled by the combination of Gyarados, Rotom and Latias.
THE DEFENSIVE CORE
What's special about this is that Gyrarados and Latias can both sweep at a moment's notice by using their respective boosting moves. Rotom is the only way I can deal with SkarmBliss + Gliscor teams, Crocune, Gengar, Opposing Rotoms and Steels in general, so he's a pretty integral member.
@Leftovers
Adamant, 156 HP, 108 ATK, 60 DEF, 184 SPE
~Waterfall
~Stone Edge
~Taunt
~Dragon Dance
The first part of what makes this team work. Bulkydos has always been one of my favourite Pokemon ever since the start of the D/P Generation and has always been more or less a part of my teams. This guy comes in on physical threats and sponges their attacks like a man. From there, depending on what kind of threat it is, I either Taunt them to start setting up or use Waterfall. If it's the first switch-in, I usually opt to use Waterfall first as Dragon Dance and Gyarados are synonymous to each other and I want to deal damage to whatever switches in to check or threaten my Gyarados.
Electric Attacks that would otherwise make a nice dinner out of Gyarados can be taken by Latias or Rotom, although if Tyranitar is still alive by then he can take those attacks too. Rock-type attacks that usually come from opposing Tyranitar or Stone Edge from various physical sweepers are taken by one of my two Steel-Type sweepers, but I might stay in if I managed to intimidate the aggressor; as long as it dosen't have STAB, it won't make too huge of a dent.
@Leftovers
Timid, 176 HP, 252 SPE, 64 SpA, 16 SpD
~Calm Mind
~Dragon Pulse
~Recover
~Roar
Second part of the defensive Combo. Her role is the same; Latias covers for all of the annoying switch-ins against Tyranitar and Gyarados that appear all the time, the list including Rotom, Starmie, Zapdos, Scizor, Suicune and friends. I needed a specially bulky Pokemon that could take hits from those fiends and set-up on the process, at least chasing them away and threatening a sweep on my own. I replaced HP Fire with Roar in order to have a fighting chance against stat uppers and to shuffle their team around to wear down threats that are weak to rocks.
On my inital switch to take the attack aimed at my other members, I'll usually switch out to Scizor or Empoleon to scout for anything that would seal her fate with Pursuit. In the same vein, Ghost and Dark attacks can be taken by Empoleon or Scizor. Usually Weavile or Tyranitar, my Sweepers can deal with the both of them easily. Ice-Type attacks are again, taken by either of my Sweepers or Tyranitar if he's still fighting fit. Bug-Type attacks, usually aimed at Latias by Scizor, will be greeted with Rotom or Gyarados. If I know he's not going to Superpower, I can also switch Empoleon in.
@Choice Scarf
Timid, 4 HP, 252 SpA, 252 SPE
~Shadow Ball
~Thunderbolt
~Overheat
~Trick
The third part of my defensive core, and my answer to Machamp or any fighters that think they can break through me easily. Rotom has gone through the most reiterations than any of my other team members; I've tried Boosting Sweeper, Resttalk, Standard and even a gimmick variant with Sub and Toxic, but as it stands now Choice Scarf seems to be the best fit for him and my team right now. Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball put dents in things that don't resist them and can put holes in things that would otherwise check the rest of my team mates. The wonderful thing about Trick is that it will cripple Defensive Threats that would otherwise wall me to no tomorrow; I'm looking at you, Skarmbliss. Rotom also serves as my revenge killer against things that Scizor cannot efficiently Bullet Punch, mainly Agility Zapdos, Metagross and the like.
Since shares almost exactly the same weaknesses Latias has, I can go to the same members that would otherwise kill him, but I can deal with them differently. If something like a Weavile switches into me, Thunderbolt is usually a 2HKO; after that, they lose their Latias counter so I have an easier time sweeping.
THE SWEEPERS
Although they both share some common weaknesses, they both clean-up the opposing team or sweep on their own.
@Choice Scarf
Jolly, 252Atk, 252 SPE, 4HP
~Iron Head
~Ice Punch
~Zen-Headbutt
~U-Turn/Trick
As suggested by Aircraft Cemetery. Still testing it out to give a proper write-up, so bear with me for now... sorry!
@ Occa Berry
Adamant, 244 HP / 12 Spe / 252 Atk
~Meteor Mash
~Bullet Punch
~Explosion
~Pursuit
Thanks to Plus for suggesting this. Although I lose out on the pure power and scouting ability Scizor gives me, I get something that can check most of the things that threaten my team and go explosion on something that would otherwise wall me. Meteor Mash hurts things that resist it a little and Pursuit lets me trap the numerous Latias that try to otherwise kill my own or my other team members.
However, the lack of a ground resist opens up another weakness in my team, but it's nothing 3 Pokemon immune to ground-type attacks can't handle. When it comes down to this, however, I think I might need to give Latias a more physically defensive spread. The Fire type-attacks can be eaten because of the Occa Berry, especially if they come from Pokemon without STAB. However, once the berry is gone, if for one reason or another I have to keep Metagross alive, I'll direct them to Latias, Gyarados or Empoleon.
CONSIDERATIONS:
Replacing Empoleon with Wish Vaporeon. Would be able to be sweep, although not as well, and help the rest of the team survive with Wish. Haven't tried it yet though, but it dosen't seem like a good idea. I don't want to give up the Resistances Empoleon's Water/Steel typing gives. I might give Empoleon the Sub+3 Attacks set too, but Grass Knot offers me not much in terms of coverage; Surf+Sub beats Swampert already.
Giving Latias a more defensive EV spread. Calm Mind boosts my Special Defense already, but I need her to handle Gliscor.
REPLACED MEMBERS:
(by Metagross)
@Choice Band
Adamant, 160 HP, 252 ATK, 96 SpD
~Bullet Punch
~Pursuit
~U-Turn
~Superpower
(by Magnezone)
@Petaya Berry
Modest, 12 HP, 12 DEF, 232 SPE, 252 SpA
~Agility
~Surf
~Ice Beam
~Substitute
-Scizor Replaced with Metagross
-Empoleon Replaced with Magnezone
-Threat List updated with Gliscor
-Tyranitar's Moveset modified
-Gyarados' EV Spread updated
(Changes will be bolded)
OLD TEAM AND STORY
I stopped playing for a long time, but ever since I got a job again, I find myself sometimes craving for something to do during my break. Shoddy showed itself again, and here I am. First off, I'd like to start with my old team that I used to ladder with for a good while. It got me quite far, but it had quite a few shortcomings. First of all, the defensive core was not as stable as I hoped it to be; it stretched across the entire team, which means I had to switch alot. Being Bulky Offense, losing a member of the team almost meant certain defeat, and the first one to go was usually Rotom or Swampert, two of the more important members. Another problem I had was handling stat-uppers in general; SDLucario and DDMence threaten it badly.
Coming back to the game after a while, I decided to give the team a revamp. I tried to play a Gyarados-based team, changing his moveset to the more Offensive LO one and playing around with team mates, but none of them ever got off the ground; I didn't have answer to Infernape, Salamence or other popular threats. I also tried using a Roserade lead over Swampert in an attempt to get Momentum quickly, but it seemed to lose out to other leads more than not and how fragile it was was a little disappointing.
After a while, instead of trying to figure out which members to replace, I tinkered around with the defensive core a little. Looking at my team, Tyranitar would make a suitable lead; I moved him there. However, that would mean that I lacked a status absorber. I decided to make Swampert a Cursepert and left it from there. I also replaced HP Fire on Latias with Roar as I also lacked a good Phazer. It seemed to do better from there, but Scizor could only revenge kill so many threats. So, I gave Rotom a Choice Scarf and made it more of a Backup Sweeper/Revenger Killer and counter to Suicune and friends who love to stat up. However, after playing for a while, I found out the real things that threatened my team as a whole; the lack of any real offensive power and not as many resists as I hoped. Looking at my team on Marriland team builder, I decided to replace Swampert with Empoleon; serving as one of the "Core" sweepers together with Gyarados and Latias, my team seemed to go off pretty good from there.
Here's the team as it is now, together with descriptions.
AT A GLANCE
THE LEAD
Tyranitar. He gets things moving.
@Lum Berry
Careful, 252 HP, 126 ATK, 132 SpD
~Stone Edge
~Payback
~Rest
~Stealth Rock
Looking at the top 10 Leads, I realized how Swampert was forced to attack most of them. I wanted to get rocks up quickly as it was pretty important to the team, so I decided to let Tyranitar take the lead instead. Against faster leads like Azelf and Aerodactyl I usually use Stone Edge first and see how they react from there; if not I set up rocks alongside them. Metagross, Swampert, Hippowdon and other slower leads usually let me set up rocks alongside them too, but I have to use Protect if I'm up against something that immediately threatens me, namely Infernape and Machamp. Of course they know I'll switch out, but usually they'll know I'll do so and attempt to one-up me somehow, like Infernape using U-Turn first to nearly kill off my Latias as I switch her to take the incoming Close Combat. There is but one lead that this Tyranitar cannot beat, and that is Ninjask; I usually have to go to Latias to Roar it out, but a smart trainer might catch on and maim it with X-Scissor. I'm considering replacing Protect with Roar and turning Latias into a bulky sweeper instead.
Tyranitar's moveset is also pretty much still floating; I'm thinking of using Crunch instead of Pursuit and Taunt over Protect.
Super-Effective special attacks are soaked up pretty easily because of the Special defense EVs and Sandstorm boost, but stuff like LO Starmie threatens me to no tomorrow. More on that later. Fighting, Steel and Ground type attacks are handled by the combination of Gyarados, Rotom and Latias.
THE DEFENSIVE CORE
What's special about this is that Gyrarados and Latias can both sweep at a moment's notice by using their respective boosting moves. Rotom is the only way I can deal with SkarmBliss + Gliscor teams, Crocune, Gengar, Opposing Rotoms and Steels in general, so he's a pretty integral member.
@Leftovers
Adamant, 156 HP, 108 ATK, 60 DEF, 184 SPE
~Waterfall
~Stone Edge
~Taunt
~Dragon Dance
The first part of what makes this team work. Bulkydos has always been one of my favourite Pokemon ever since the start of the D/P Generation and has always been more or less a part of my teams. This guy comes in on physical threats and sponges their attacks like a man. From there, depending on what kind of threat it is, I either Taunt them to start setting up or use Waterfall. If it's the first switch-in, I usually opt to use Waterfall first as Dragon Dance and Gyarados are synonymous to each other and I want to deal damage to whatever switches in to check or threaten my Gyarados.
Electric Attacks that would otherwise make a nice dinner out of Gyarados can be taken by Latias or Rotom, although if Tyranitar is still alive by then he can take those attacks too. Rock-type attacks that usually come from opposing Tyranitar or Stone Edge from various physical sweepers are taken by one of my two Steel-Type sweepers, but I might stay in if I managed to intimidate the aggressor; as long as it dosen't have STAB, it won't make too huge of a dent.
@Leftovers
Timid, 176 HP, 252 SPE, 64 SpA, 16 SpD
~Calm Mind
~Dragon Pulse
~Recover
~Roar
Second part of the defensive Combo. Her role is the same; Latias covers for all of the annoying switch-ins against Tyranitar and Gyarados that appear all the time, the list including Rotom, Starmie, Zapdos, Scizor, Suicune and friends. I needed a specially bulky Pokemon that could take hits from those fiends and set-up on the process, at least chasing them away and threatening a sweep on my own. I replaced HP Fire with Roar in order to have a fighting chance against stat uppers and to shuffle their team around to wear down threats that are weak to rocks.
On my inital switch to take the attack aimed at my other members, I'll usually switch out to Scizor or Empoleon to scout for anything that would seal her fate with Pursuit. In the same vein, Ghost and Dark attacks can be taken by Empoleon or Scizor. Usually Weavile or Tyranitar, my Sweepers can deal with the both of them easily. Ice-Type attacks are again, taken by either of my Sweepers or Tyranitar if he's still fighting fit. Bug-Type attacks, usually aimed at Latias by Scizor, will be greeted with Rotom or Gyarados. If I know he's not going to Superpower, I can also switch Empoleon in.
@Choice Scarf
Timid, 4 HP, 252 SpA, 252 SPE
~Shadow Ball
~Thunderbolt
~Overheat
~Trick
The third part of my defensive core, and my answer to Machamp or any fighters that think they can break through me easily. Rotom has gone through the most reiterations than any of my other team members; I've tried Boosting Sweeper, Resttalk, Standard and even a gimmick variant with Sub and Toxic, but as it stands now Choice Scarf seems to be the best fit for him and my team right now. Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball put dents in things that don't resist them and can put holes in things that would otherwise check the rest of my team mates. The wonderful thing about Trick is that it will cripple Defensive Threats that would otherwise wall me to no tomorrow; I'm looking at you, Skarmbliss. Rotom also serves as my revenge killer against things that Scizor cannot efficiently Bullet Punch, mainly Agility Zapdos, Metagross and the like.
Since shares almost exactly the same weaknesses Latias has, I can go to the same members that would otherwise kill him, but I can deal with them differently. If something like a Weavile switches into me, Thunderbolt is usually a 2HKO; after that, they lose their Latias counter so I have an easier time sweeping.
THE SWEEPERS
Although they both share some common weaknesses, they both clean-up the opposing team or sweep on their own.
@Choice Scarf
Jolly, 252Atk, 252 SPE, 4HP
~Iron Head
~Ice Punch
~Zen-Headbutt
~U-Turn/Trick
As suggested by Aircraft Cemetery. Still testing it out to give a proper write-up, so bear with me for now... sorry!
@ Occa Berry
Adamant, 244 HP / 12 Spe / 252 Atk
~Meteor Mash
~Bullet Punch
~Explosion
~Pursuit
Thanks to Plus for suggesting this. Although I lose out on the pure power and scouting ability Scizor gives me, I get something that can check most of the things that threaten my team and go explosion on something that would otherwise wall me. Meteor Mash hurts things that resist it a little and Pursuit lets me trap the numerous Latias that try to otherwise kill my own or my other team members.
However, the lack of a ground resist opens up another weakness in my team, but it's nothing 3 Pokemon immune to ground-type attacks can't handle. When it comes down to this, however, I think I might need to give Latias a more physically defensive spread. The Fire type-attacks can be eaten because of the Occa Berry, especially if they come from Pokemon without STAB. However, once the berry is gone, if for one reason or another I have to keep Metagross alive, I'll direct them to Latias, Gyarados or Empoleon.
CONSIDERATIONS:
Replacing Empoleon with Wish Vaporeon. Would be able to be sweep, although not as well, and help the rest of the team survive with Wish. Haven't tried it yet though, but it dosen't seem like a good idea. I don't want to give up the Resistances Empoleon's Water/Steel typing gives. I might give Empoleon the Sub+3 Attacks set too, but Grass Knot offers me not much in terms of coverage; Surf+Sub beats Swampert already.
Giving Latias a more defensive EV spread. Calm Mind boosts my Special Defense already, but I need her to handle Gliscor.
REPLACED MEMBERS:
@Choice Band
Adamant, 160 HP, 252 ATK, 96 SpD
~Bullet Punch
~Pursuit
~U-Turn
~Superpower
@Petaya Berry
Modest, 12 HP, 12 DEF, 232 SPE, 252 SpA
~Agility
~Surf
~Ice Beam
~Substitute
