obi
formerly david stone
This is pretty much all repost from my old thread (thank you, archive.org). People kept bugging me about X or Y about my team, so I figured I'd repost. Hope I'm not breaking any rules! Just about all I changed is a bit of formatting. I'm also adding a couple comments about what I might change if I were to use this team now.
Team
Hippowdon @ Leftovers *** Daedalus
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Atk / 192 Def / 40 SpD
Impish nature (+Def, -SpA)
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang / Roar
Putting down Stealth Rock ASAP negates Focus Sash (as does Sand Stream, but some dudes are immune to that). Stealth Rock removes the possibility of a Bellyzard sweep with Sand Stream support. The first two parts of my "secondary" damage.
Now that Garchomp is banned, the need for Ice Fang is reduced. Dragonite and Salamence do not hit nearly as hard with Outrage, and they are weak to SR and are hit by SS. For this reason, I would definitely consider Roar over Ice Fang, as most Pokemon will be hit harder by entry hazards than by Ice Fang, and another phazer is always nice, especially as a lead (screw you, Ninjask).
To explain the EVs, max HP maximizes overall defenses. 192 Def with an Impish nature gives 2 more points than 188, which helps maximize overall physical defensiveness. The 24 Attack guaranteed a certain amount of damage on a Pokemon that I have since forgotten, and the rest went into Special Defense to take stuff like Hidden Power from Electrics.
Skarmory @ Shed Shell *** Icarus
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 40 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish nature (+Def, -SpA)
- Whirlwind
- Spikes
- Roost
- Brave Bird
The next part of my "secondary" damage, Spikes. Skarmory has some great resistances to abuse here. It helps Whirlwind out stat-uppers like Curse Miltank and Snorlax, as well as just phazing stuff to rack up Spikes damage. I use Shed Shell because Magnezone is a punk. Brave Bird is needed to do something useful to Starmie, Tentacruel, and Gyarados, 3 big opponents to stall teams who think they can take on Skarmory.
I moved those 16 EVs from Attack to Speed on this posting, because that's where they were supposed to be. It's primarily to beat other Skarmory to the WW.
Tentacruel @ Leftovers *** Morpheus
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Electric] / Knock Off
The last part of my "secondary" damage, Toxic Spikes. Rapid Spin + Knock Off is illegal, so I decided on Rapid Spin here. Toxic Spikes means Restless Dusknoir and Spiritomb can't stop me, and Gengar is too frail to keep coming in (and can't OHKO Tentacruel, anyway). Hidden Power Electric helps vs. Empoleon, Starmie, enemy Tentacruel, and Gyarados, mostly, all of which are more common foes for Tentacruel than Garchomp, Dragonite, Celebi, or Salamence.
Now that Tentacruel can use Knock Off and Rapid Spin, Knock Off is definitely an excellent choice. HP Electric would mostly be for keeping enemy Tentacruel at bay and as a back-up against Ice Fang / Bite Gyarados, while Knock Off screws over everyone.
Blissey @ Leftovers *** Helios
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 40 SpA / 216 SpD
Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Flamethrower
- Toxic
Yes, I know what you're thinking, "Calm Blissey with tons of Special Defense EVs!? Are you crazy? Toxic on a team with Toxic Spikes? Are you insane?" Well, yes, I am, but that's irrelevant to this.
First, Toxic. 3 of the biggest special attacking threats, Azelf, Togekiss, and Zapdos, are completely immune to Toxic Spikes, and two of those have Roost and / or Wish to heal themselves, meaning Blissey normally cannot KO them. With Toxic, Blissey can just hit them with that and start stalling. Wish + Protect helps further this, so that Blissey can take on that Nasty Plot Aura Sphere Togekiss that thinks it is a Blissey counter because it has Roost.
Blissey has all that Special Defense because it needs it. This isn't ADV, people. The level of special attacking power available this generation easily exceeds ADV ubers, and nobody questioned using Special Defense EVs and Calm there (at least not at the end when people realized it isn't OU). Blissey needs Special Defense EVs if it plans to stand up to the likes of Nasty Plot Aura Sphere Togekiss, Focus Blast Gengar, and yes, with this spread, Blissey even has a shot at surviving the much acclaimed Modest Life Orb Nasty Plot Adaptability Hyper Beam PorygonZ (although Blissey isn't usually my first switch into that). It will always survive the same from +SpA Download PorygonZ (although it will sometimes fall to Sandstorm afterward). Blissey needs it to survive Choice Specs Flash Fire Fire Blasts from Heatran.
My next big issue here was what form of healing to use on Blissey. In the end, I decided that Tentacruel lacks its own way to heal, so Wish would be useful there. Wish also tends to be passed to the only other member of the team without reliable healing, Spiritomb. If you'll notice, both Tentacruel and Spiritomb resist or are immune to Blissey's weakness, Fighting. So I had to choose between Wish and Softboiled or Wish and Protect. I eschewed Softboiled in favor of Protect for a few reasons. First, Choice Banders love to switch into Blissey when they realize I don't have Thunder Wave, especially Heracross. Protect first, and suddenly they aren't so threatening. Blissey can easily stall that Choice Band Heracross that tries to use Pursuit. Meanwhile, Sandstorm is wearing them down. Protect has also caught so many Gengar, Azelf, Heatran, and Bronzong Explosions for me. Finally, Wish + Protect leaves me vulnerable to a critical hit from something like Aura Sphere Togekiss half as often as Softboiled spamming would for the same amount of Toxistalling.
So the only thing left unexplained is my final move, Flamethrower. My options, really, were Seismic Toss, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Grass Knot, Psychic (lol). One requirement was that Blissey had to be able to hit Gengar, or else I'd be weak to a Life Orb Gengar with Focus Punch or Focus Blast, so Seismic Toss and Grass Knot were instantly thrown out. After that, it was just "What kind of stuff likes to switch into Blissey, and what can't Blissey reliably take on with Toxic that it could beat with another move?"
If I can't break Abomasnow's Substitutes, I'd have to use Sludge Bomb on Tentacruel, or I'd lose to that. Substitute Raikou could at least be forced out thanks to Celebi, and it would slowly be worn down by Sandstorm and its own Substitutes, if nothing else, so it wasn't as critical as Abomasnow. Blissey is supposed to wall SpecsMence, but it's not going to get through Blissey ever unless it gets 2 CHes or a CH and tons of spike clones are down, and in neither of those cases do I even get a chance to attack, anyway, so as long as I can do something to it, I'll win out in the end. If need be, it can be hit with Toxic, Sandstorm stalled with Protect and Wish, and just generally worn down thanks to Stealth Rock. Physical versions are just going to OHKO Blissey after a set-up or 2HKO with Choice Band Dragon Claw or whatever, so once again, Blissey can't hit it.
Heracross, Weavile, Tyranitar, and Lucario like to switch into Blissey. Flamethrower hits 3 of those SE, and barely dents Tyranitar. Thunderbolt is neutral on all (and neutral may as well be NVE for all it does to most of these guys). Ice Beam is resisted by 2 and neutral on the others (ah, that's even worse!). Psychic is SE on Heracross, neutral on Lucario, and doesn't touch Weavile or Tyranitar. Flamethrower obviously has the best coverage for stuff that generally switches into Blissey.
Flamethrower has also netted me several Forretress kills and a few Scizor kills. It lets Blissey beat those annoying Skarmory, because it's still SE, even if they Roost.
If you'll notice, I cannot touch Heatran at all. However, Heatran is almost always Scarfed or Specsed. This means it's easily PP stalled out of its Fire move (Overheat and Fire Blast have 8 PP). However, I'll still have to kill it eventually. Fortunately, Tentacruel is a Special Defensive beast. The only way Heatran is even considering touching it is with Earth Power, which does pittance to Celebi and less to Skarmory. Without Choice Specs, it won't do enough to Tentacruel in case someone suggests a non-Choice item Heatran as a way to beat my team. I guess I do have a Substitute, Flamethrower, Nasty Plot, HP Electric / HP Ground Houndoom weakness, but whatever.
With the rise of Heatran in Platinum (and the fall of guys like Weavile), I would very well consider something like Thunderbolt so I can at least touch Heatran (and thus not instantly lose to Taunt Heatran), because I don't like to overload Tentacruel.
Celebi @ Leftovers *** Celobi
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 8 SpD / 32 Spe
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Recover
- Perish Song
- Grass Knot
- U-turn
Ah, my main Gyarados counter, and the reason I don't lose to last Pokemon <stat-upper that can block Toxic in some way>. Also the best answer to Baton Pass chains.
Grass Knot obviously works to stop Gyarados (it does about 40% to it, so a 2HKO if it's hit by Stealth Rock, 3HKO otherwise). Meanwhile, the only way Gyarados is hurting Celebi at all is with Ice Fang. If it has DD and Ice Fang, then it lacks EQ, meaning Tentacruel can come in and use HP Electric for ~50% damage, or it lacks Waterfall, meaning Skarmory has some fun with Brave Bird, or maybe it lacks Taunt, meaning Skarmory can still Roost and Whirlwind, or, as an absolute last resort, Blissey can Toxic. Grass Knot also covers Tyranitar somewhat, and does a surprising amount of damage to Spiritomb (I don't know about Dusknoir because it's not as common). Celebi with Grass Knot laughs in the face of Hippowdon and Swampert, too.
Perish Song works as pseudo-phazing, stops BP chains (unless they catch on and Baton Pass Ingrain to Mr. Mime, I guess, but if you got Toxic Spikes down, even that won't fly), and infuriates anything Umbreon tries to pull off. U-Turn lets you switch out and see who they are replacing when they're leaving for fear of Perish Song, and keeps the aforementioned Umbreon from trapping you. I'm still waiting for the day I use U-Turn on the final turn of Perish Song, but they switch to Garchomp, and Sand Veil causes U-Turn to miss, so I end up dying to my own trap.
The purpose of the EVs is as follows: maximize HP to maximize overall defenses. 32 Speed beats even Jolly Tyranitar, 216 Def with Bold gives me the extra point, and then I put the rest in Special Defense to take Ice Beams slightly better.
This dude, like the rest of my team members, has an awesome nickname, as well.
Spiritomb @ Leftovers *** The Man Who Was Thursday
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Hidden Power Fighting
Blocks Rapid Spin, counters Lucario and other fighters. Absorbs Sleep, too. Spiritomb can just wall most stall teams that I've faced.
I'd consider a Rotom form here now that it has good defensive stats. I would add to the Pursuit weakness, though. However, such a change is beyond the scope of this post, as it would let me majorly rework the team.
Team
Hippowdon @ Leftovers *** Daedalus
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Atk / 192 Def / 40 SpD
Impish nature (+Def, -SpA)
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang / Roar
Putting down Stealth Rock ASAP negates Focus Sash (as does Sand Stream, but some dudes are immune to that). Stealth Rock removes the possibility of a Bellyzard sweep with Sand Stream support. The first two parts of my "secondary" damage.
Now that Garchomp is banned, the need for Ice Fang is reduced. Dragonite and Salamence do not hit nearly as hard with Outrage, and they are weak to SR and are hit by SS. For this reason, I would definitely consider Roar over Ice Fang, as most Pokemon will be hit harder by entry hazards than by Ice Fang, and another phazer is always nice, especially as a lead (screw you, Ninjask).
To explain the EVs, max HP maximizes overall defenses. 192 Def with an Impish nature gives 2 more points than 188, which helps maximize overall physical defensiveness. The 24 Attack guaranteed a certain amount of damage on a Pokemon that I have since forgotten, and the rest went into Special Defense to take stuff like Hidden Power from Electrics.
Skarmory @ Shed Shell *** Icarus
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 40 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish nature (+Def, -SpA)
- Whirlwind
- Spikes
- Roost
- Brave Bird
The next part of my "secondary" damage, Spikes. Skarmory has some great resistances to abuse here. It helps Whirlwind out stat-uppers like Curse Miltank and Snorlax, as well as just phazing stuff to rack up Spikes damage. I use Shed Shell because Magnezone is a punk. Brave Bird is needed to do something useful to Starmie, Tentacruel, and Gyarados, 3 big opponents to stall teams who think they can take on Skarmory.
I moved those 16 EVs from Attack to Speed on this posting, because that's where they were supposed to be. It's primarily to beat other Skarmory to the WW.
Tentacruel @ Leftovers *** Morpheus
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Electric] / Knock Off
The last part of my "secondary" damage, Toxic Spikes. Rapid Spin + Knock Off is illegal, so I decided on Rapid Spin here. Toxic Spikes means Restless Dusknoir and Spiritomb can't stop me, and Gengar is too frail to keep coming in (and can't OHKO Tentacruel, anyway). Hidden Power Electric helps vs. Empoleon, Starmie, enemy Tentacruel, and Gyarados, mostly, all of which are more common foes for Tentacruel than Garchomp, Dragonite, Celebi, or Salamence.
Now that Tentacruel can use Knock Off and Rapid Spin, Knock Off is definitely an excellent choice. HP Electric would mostly be for keeping enemy Tentacruel at bay and as a back-up against Ice Fang / Bite Gyarados, while Knock Off screws over everyone.
Blissey @ Leftovers *** Helios
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 40 SpA / 216 SpD
Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Flamethrower
- Toxic
Yes, I know what you're thinking, "Calm Blissey with tons of Special Defense EVs!? Are you crazy? Toxic on a team with Toxic Spikes? Are you insane?" Well, yes, I am, but that's irrelevant to this.
First, Toxic. 3 of the biggest special attacking threats, Azelf, Togekiss, and Zapdos, are completely immune to Toxic Spikes, and two of those have Roost and / or Wish to heal themselves, meaning Blissey normally cannot KO them. With Toxic, Blissey can just hit them with that and start stalling. Wish + Protect helps further this, so that Blissey can take on that Nasty Plot Aura Sphere Togekiss that thinks it is a Blissey counter because it has Roost.
Blissey has all that Special Defense because it needs it. This isn't ADV, people. The level of special attacking power available this generation easily exceeds ADV ubers, and nobody questioned using Special Defense EVs and Calm there (at least not at the end when people realized it isn't OU). Blissey needs Special Defense EVs if it plans to stand up to the likes of Nasty Plot Aura Sphere Togekiss, Focus Blast Gengar, and yes, with this spread, Blissey even has a shot at surviving the much acclaimed Modest Life Orb Nasty Plot Adaptability Hyper Beam PorygonZ (although Blissey isn't usually my first switch into that). It will always survive the same from +SpA Download PorygonZ (although it will sometimes fall to Sandstorm afterward). Blissey needs it to survive Choice Specs Flash Fire Fire Blasts from Heatran.
My next big issue here was what form of healing to use on Blissey. In the end, I decided that Tentacruel lacks its own way to heal, so Wish would be useful there. Wish also tends to be passed to the only other member of the team without reliable healing, Spiritomb. If you'll notice, both Tentacruel and Spiritomb resist or are immune to Blissey's weakness, Fighting. So I had to choose between Wish and Softboiled or Wish and Protect. I eschewed Softboiled in favor of Protect for a few reasons. First, Choice Banders love to switch into Blissey when they realize I don't have Thunder Wave, especially Heracross. Protect first, and suddenly they aren't so threatening. Blissey can easily stall that Choice Band Heracross that tries to use Pursuit. Meanwhile, Sandstorm is wearing them down. Protect has also caught so many Gengar, Azelf, Heatran, and Bronzong Explosions for me. Finally, Wish + Protect leaves me vulnerable to a critical hit from something like Aura Sphere Togekiss half as often as Softboiled spamming would for the same amount of Toxistalling.
So the only thing left unexplained is my final move, Flamethrower. My options, really, were Seismic Toss, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Grass Knot, Psychic (lol). One requirement was that Blissey had to be able to hit Gengar, or else I'd be weak to a Life Orb Gengar with Focus Punch or Focus Blast, so Seismic Toss and Grass Knot were instantly thrown out. After that, it was just "What kind of stuff likes to switch into Blissey, and what can't Blissey reliably take on with Toxic that it could beat with another move?"
If I can't break Abomasnow's Substitutes, I'd have to use Sludge Bomb on Tentacruel, or I'd lose to that. Substitute Raikou could at least be forced out thanks to Celebi, and it would slowly be worn down by Sandstorm and its own Substitutes, if nothing else, so it wasn't as critical as Abomasnow. Blissey is supposed to wall SpecsMence, but it's not going to get through Blissey ever unless it gets 2 CHes or a CH and tons of spike clones are down, and in neither of those cases do I even get a chance to attack, anyway, so as long as I can do something to it, I'll win out in the end. If need be, it can be hit with Toxic, Sandstorm stalled with Protect and Wish, and just generally worn down thanks to Stealth Rock. Physical versions are just going to OHKO Blissey after a set-up or 2HKO with Choice Band Dragon Claw or whatever, so once again, Blissey can't hit it.
Heracross, Weavile, Tyranitar, and Lucario like to switch into Blissey. Flamethrower hits 3 of those SE, and barely dents Tyranitar. Thunderbolt is neutral on all (and neutral may as well be NVE for all it does to most of these guys). Ice Beam is resisted by 2 and neutral on the others (ah, that's even worse!). Psychic is SE on Heracross, neutral on Lucario, and doesn't touch Weavile or Tyranitar. Flamethrower obviously has the best coverage for stuff that generally switches into Blissey.
Flamethrower has also netted me several Forretress kills and a few Scizor kills. It lets Blissey beat those annoying Skarmory, because it's still SE, even if they Roost.
If you'll notice, I cannot touch Heatran at all. However, Heatran is almost always Scarfed or Specsed. This means it's easily PP stalled out of its Fire move (Overheat and Fire Blast have 8 PP). However, I'll still have to kill it eventually. Fortunately, Tentacruel is a Special Defensive beast. The only way Heatran is even considering touching it is with Earth Power, which does pittance to Celebi and less to Skarmory. Without Choice Specs, it won't do enough to Tentacruel in case someone suggests a non-Choice item Heatran as a way to beat my team. I guess I do have a Substitute, Flamethrower, Nasty Plot, HP Electric / HP Ground Houndoom weakness, but whatever.
With the rise of Heatran in Platinum (and the fall of guys like Weavile), I would very well consider something like Thunderbolt so I can at least touch Heatran (and thus not instantly lose to Taunt Heatran), because I don't like to overload Tentacruel.
Celebi @ Leftovers *** Celobi
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 8 SpD / 32 Spe
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Recover
- Perish Song
- Grass Knot
- U-turn
Ah, my main Gyarados counter, and the reason I don't lose to last Pokemon <stat-upper that can block Toxic in some way>. Also the best answer to Baton Pass chains.
Grass Knot obviously works to stop Gyarados (it does about 40% to it, so a 2HKO if it's hit by Stealth Rock, 3HKO otherwise). Meanwhile, the only way Gyarados is hurting Celebi at all is with Ice Fang. If it has DD and Ice Fang, then it lacks EQ, meaning Tentacruel can come in and use HP Electric for ~50% damage, or it lacks Waterfall, meaning Skarmory has some fun with Brave Bird, or maybe it lacks Taunt, meaning Skarmory can still Roost and Whirlwind, or, as an absolute last resort, Blissey can Toxic. Grass Knot also covers Tyranitar somewhat, and does a surprising amount of damage to Spiritomb (I don't know about Dusknoir because it's not as common). Celebi with Grass Knot laughs in the face of Hippowdon and Swampert, too.
Perish Song works as pseudo-phazing, stops BP chains (unless they catch on and Baton Pass Ingrain to Mr. Mime, I guess, but if you got Toxic Spikes down, even that won't fly), and infuriates anything Umbreon tries to pull off. U-Turn lets you switch out and see who they are replacing when they're leaving for fear of Perish Song, and keeps the aforementioned Umbreon from trapping you. I'm still waiting for the day I use U-Turn on the final turn of Perish Song, but they switch to Garchomp, and Sand Veil causes U-Turn to miss, so I end up dying to my own trap.
The purpose of the EVs is as follows: maximize HP to maximize overall defenses. 32 Speed beats even Jolly Tyranitar, 216 Def with Bold gives me the extra point, and then I put the rest in Special Defense to take Ice Beams slightly better.
This dude, like the rest of my team members, has an awesome nickname, as well.
Spiritomb @ Leftovers *** The Man Who Was Thursday
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Hidden Power Fighting
Blocks Rapid Spin, counters Lucario and other fighters. Absorbs Sleep, too. Spiritomb can just wall most stall teams that I've faced.
I'd consider a Rotom form here now that it has good defensive stats. I would add to the Pursuit weakness, though. However, such a change is beyond the scope of this post, as it would let me majorly rework the team.