GradeAGarchomp
geg
hey guys, GradeAGarchomp here with my second solo rmt! for those who may not know me, i am a competitive tutoring and rate my team room voice over on PS! and i've decided to get more involved in the rmt section of the smogon forums. i love being here so far so i'm excited to deliver another team. without further ado, onto the team.
the basic premise of this team is to let zekrom clean later in the game with its great coverage and ability to slow things down. the other 5 pokemon all help in removing certain checks / counters to zekrom while also keeping the build intact against common threats in the current metagame and making sure the team has decent synergy. making and battling with this build has been really fun and i definitely suggest you try doing both with zekrom. as i have hinted previously, i have tested this on ps! where i went 21-7. granted that isn't the best w/l ratio in the world, it's enough to prove that zekrom has potential with the correct teammates, and i hope that more people will use zekrom to its fullest potential. without any more rambling, onto the teambuilding process.
TEAM_DEVELOPMENT
i've always wanted to build around zekrom, and it has a few qualities that make it stand out as a pokemon. its coverage allows it to hit many targets and it has pretty decent mixed attacking stats. its typing is all around excellent and it allows it to check electric-, fire-, grass-, flying- and steel-types which gives it a nice match up versus common leads like talonflame, thundurus and crobat as well as amoonguss and ho-oh. it sits at the base 90 speed tier which isn't favorable but isn't terrible either.
kyogre was the next addition because it beats many of zekrom's checks such as primal groudon, landorus-t and mega mawile. it provides a way to control the weather and to better the match up versus double primal teams. it completes my restricted core and is quite powerful.
i added mega kangaskhan next because smeargle and big 6 in general was looking a bit threatening and i wanted a way to check it a bit. mega kangaskhan also provides low kick as a last resort against non-scarfed kyurem-white and dialga which the current core had a bit of difficulty breaking through.
mega salamence was the next addition to help me against the rayogre matchup as well as add a lot of speed to the team. this also checks kyurem-white if it's not scarfed, and it provides another primal groudon check as well as intimidate support which is always appreciated.
i added ferrothorn next because the match up versus xerneas was awful and the primal kyogre match up was shaky, especially since i only had zekrom to ko it at the time. it also adds an answer to weavile should i not flinch and when coupled with primal kyogre it helps me against kyurem-white teams with proper prediction. it blanket checks a lot and it usually not bad to add to any team.
thundurus was the last addition to my team to help against big 6 mainly, but it also helps me against gravity and double primal teams. it provides crucial speed control via thunder wave and is a last resort to anything that may be super threatening against me.
DETAILED_ANALYSIS
zekrom @ focus sash | teravolt
hasty nature | 140 atk / 212 spa / 156 spe
draco meteor | bolt strike | rock tomb | protect
zekrom is the main pokemon of the team, and i picked it for the aforementioned reasons; it has a crucial typing that makes it quite a nice pokemon to build around. metagame trends have been neutral for zekrom; it has an okay match up versus rayogre once rayquaza is removed from the situation and the match-up versus double primal teams are okay as well. it can rip apart some weakened double primal teams however, as its power and coverage allow it to break through less bulky groudon with some prior damage and can pick off kyogre with ease. it pressures common tailwind users from coming in due to its typing and can serve as a check to ho-oh which many teams (besides rayogre) inherently lack as of lately. moving on to the set, it's one that i find to work the best in the metagame thus far. bolt strike is incredibly powerful and will be 2hkoing most of its targets due to the power of it alone. there is really no reason not to use bolt strike; while the accuracy of fusion bolt looks tempting the power loss is very noticeable and you'll find zekrom won't be doing much damage at all. draco meteor is an interesting choice here, but it has reason to be on the set. it hits more physically bulky pokemon for more damage (primal groudon, landorus-t, mega salamence) and is the best option that zekrom has for reliable dragon-type stab since dragon claw is too weak and is hindered by intimidate whilst outrage hits a random target, brings confusion onto yourself and is also hindered by intimidate, which makes draco meteor the far more superior option. the third slot was free and i originally had tailwind there instead, though i found that zekrom never had the opportunity to set it up since it always wants to attack. i settled on rock tomb since it is a spread move that also lowers speed which is helpful since my two restricted pokemon sit at the base 90 speed tier which is not too favorable in battle. protect's reason for being here is pretty obvious; it scouts for attacks as well as stalls turns of field effects.
the ev spread was one i brewed not too long ago. it allows zekrom to ohko bulkier yveltal variants (specifically 244 hp / 28 def ones) with bolt strike which is crucial since my team struggles so much with yveltal. the special attack aims to ohko 100 hp / 4 spdef kyurem-white with draco meteor, achieving this goal about 70% of the time. the speed in tandem with hasty put zekrom at a speed of 143; just above max speed neutral-natured base 90 pokemon which is a pretty important benchmark. focus sash was the chosen item over life orb or haban berry since this team is so weak to kyurem-white; while haban berry may help against ones that predominately use draco meteor, blizzard would still ohko it so focus sash was chosen as a happy medium. it also allows me to pull off some last minute kos versus primal groudon, xerneas, rayquaza and mega salamence if needed. you can always run more special attack to toss primal groudon and landorus-t around or more attack just to give bolt strike more power. you can opt for 44 speed evs with a boosting nature ( 132 without ) to outspeed -1 speed mega salamence, though this is last ditch because the rest of the build can handle mega salamence somewhat nicely.
as i said in the prologue to the team, zekrom likes to clean late game. it puts a lot of holes in the opposing team midgame however, leaving one of the other members to pick up what it left behind. remember, it is important to make sure that bulky ground- and steel-types as well as faster dragon-types are removed before you let zekrom and wall break / clean. it can lead well against most teams and click rock tomb to slow down the predicted switch in or nuke something with bolt strike. always take your opponents skill, your risks and rewards when playing with zekrom.
primal kyogre @ blue orb | primordial sea
modest nature | 188 hp / 204 def / 76 spa / 4 spd / 36 spe
water spout | origin pulse | ice beam | protect
primal kyogre is next and as stated before, is crucial in the core to help zekrom break through bulky ground-types like primal groudon and landorus-t as well as mega mawile. there isn't much to say about it otherwise; it fits on what arguably is the most common archetype: rayogre and is overall a very solid pokemon. the moveset is quite standard: water spout is its most powerful attack that should be used with caution especially since kyogre isn't the fastest pokemon. origin pulse is the secondary water-type stab that is a nice alternative should you take any damage before you water spout. ice beam hits dragon-types like mega rayquaza and mega salamence as well as it being its best option against primal groudon, palkia, dialga, amoonguss, ferrothorn and kyurem-w. protect is used for the same reasons explained above and it's not much of a surprise why it's here.
the spread is one passed to me by Draconid997 which you can find here. the spread has been successful and it accomplishes all that it needs to well.
primal kyogre is one of those pokemon that is great to send out at pretty much any point in the game; just be sure to keep it healthy to win the weather war against primal groudon. it also beats landorus-t which is pretty threatening to the build as a whole. it blanket checks most flying types which means you have to keep it alive at almost all costs. it's not difficult to get it in, switch it in on a predicted zekrom counter and start throwing out water spouts and/or ice beams.
kangaskhan-mega @ kangaskhanite | parental bond / inner focus
adamant nature | 4 hp / 188 atk / 76 def / 4 spd / 236 spe
fake out | double edge | low kick | sucker punch
mega kangaskhan comes up and is quite essential to the team. it checks smeargle and makes the big 6 matchup slightly more favorable while also giving me a decent way to hit dialga, kyurem-w and ferrothorn. it sits at a pretty nice base 100 speed tier and provides really nice fake out support. the moveset is yet another fairly standard one; fake out is great utility and is nice to get the jump on most leads and on other mega kangaskhan if i win the speed tie. double edge is very powerful stab that 2hkoes most targets and works well when combined with fake out. low kick hits heavier pokemon such as dialga, the ever threatening kyurem-white and ferrothorn and also smacks opposing kangaskhan harder than double edge. sucker punch gets chip damage on faster targets as well as hitting ghost-types like gengar and giratina-o for damage it can't get damage on otherwise. sucker punch is always nice to get in some last ditch damage when kangaskhan is about to die, as it can loosen it up for another pokemon to clean up afterwards.
the given spread may be new to some as it isn't a 252 / 252 spread, but this spread isn't as complicated as it looks. it is made to take low kick from opposing mega kangaskhan with as much speed as possible. the speed allows it to outspeed smeargle in base form, but in mega form, it doesn't hit max speed which is a bit of a shame but it hits 150 speed which is good enough. you can opt for jolly and max speed but just note that you're losing quite a bit of power by doing so.
kangaskhan is a pretty simple pokemon to use; leading with it is usually a good idea since it beats smeargle and stops a pokemon from moving turn one. if you see kyurem-w, you can try to keep mega kangaskhan alive to help against ones that aren't scarfed. the fake out support is always appreciated to help your other teammates kill a pokemon or get chip damage off.
salamence-mega @ salamencite | aerilate / intimidate
naive nature | 4 hp / 4 atk / 4 def / 244 spa / 252 spe
double edge | hyper voice | draco meteor | protect
mega salamence is quite the powerhouse and it provides some crucial speed that the team needed at the moment. it's a nice check to rayquaza which the build needed greatly and it also beats pokemon like ferrothorn which the rest of the build has a bit of trouble breaking otherwise. the moveset is fairly standard here; double edge nukes pokemon like amoonguss and mega kangaskhan without having to use draco meteor which lowers your special attack by 2. hyper voice is spammable stab that does a great deal of damage to most targets and is used not to interfere with ferrothorn's iron barbs among other things. draco meteor decimates rayquaza and opposing mega salamence as well as primal groudon, kyurem-white, landorus-t, giratina-o, zekrom, palkia, dialga etc. and is great to get crucial damage on almost any target. protect is a fairly obvious choice here yet again.
this salamence spread is different from the bread and butter spread, but it utilizes the 244 tech (as kasoman brilliantly explained here) which makes salamence slightly more bulky at the cost of a little damage output. of course, a 4 / 252 / 252 spread works, but this just looks cleaner and overall more crisp.
mega salamence is crucial to keep alive whenever a rayquaza is around as this is the team's best answer to it. it can also dent a large portion of the metagame and is definitely not limited to checking rayquaza. make sure you keep mence healthy enough to beat mega rayquaza and primal groudon, though.
ferrothorn @ expert belt | iron barbs
sassy nature | 252 hp / 196 atk / 60 spd
power whip | gyro ball | leech seed | protect
ferrothorn is next and it is vital to keep the team in one piece. the typing it brings allows it to check primal kyogre and xerneas in one slot, and it also blanket checks a lot of pokemon which finds it a place here. another fairly standard set is found here. power whip allows ferrothorn to swiftly get rid of primal kyogre while also hitting primal groudon harder than its other stab. it's pretty nice damage on a number of things due to its above average base power. gyro ball is able to smack xerneas and ohko it, while also hitting kyurem-white, amoonguss and mega mawile harder than power whip can and is great to use when the opponent has tailwind up to get as much damage as possible. leech seed can cripple common ferrothorn switchins, sapping 1/8th of the opponents health every turn and speeds the process up in ferrothorn versus cresselia match ups. protect is here as stated before and it can compound nicely with leech seed to regain lost health. expert belt is chosen here instead of leftovers to make sure it gets the ohko on primal kyogre since leftovers variants cannot ohko bulkier primal kyogre variants while expert belt ferrothorn can.
the spread is a little bit different from the normal one, but it's just to ensure that power whip ohkoes primal kyogre with power whip while living 3 water spouts from primal kyogre as well. there isn't too much to explain about the spread as it isn't far from the usual one.
ferrothorn is one of those pokemon that is pretty important to keep alive and is usually not bad to bring to most battles. keep it healthy enough to take on primal kyogre and rayquaza as well as any random pokemon you may need to take on. it's pretty simple to get it in and it holds its own in every battle.
thundurus @ sitrus berry | prankster
timid nature | 180 hp / 60 def / 4 spa / 164 spd / 100 spe
thunderbolt | taunt | thunder wave | protect
thundurus is the final addition to my team and easily earns a spot here. it makes my big 6 matchup much more favorable and it provides some needed speed control and a last ditch check against some threats to my team. thunderbolt is reliable stab that hits primal kyogre, crobat, talonflame and other flying-types hard. taunt helps me against smeragle since it's still threatening even with kangaskhan. it also improves my lead against many other archetypes such as gravity, dual primal, the aforementioned big 6, and rayogre. thunder wave is great speed control and can slow down pokemon like rayquaza and kyurem-white should the situation come to it. protect doesn't need an explanation to why it's there; it's quite obvious.
a bulkier spread with sitrus berry fits this team more because it needs to be alive for as long as possible to check certain archetypes, and offensive life orb variants get worn down too quickly to properly do its job here. this thundurus spread was made by SamVGC and it allows thundurus to outspeed max speed base 90 pokemon by 2 points (158) while living an ice beam and origin pulse from primal kyogre. it also lives mega kangaskhan's double edge factoring sitrus berry which is greatly appreciated.
thundurus is used to lead in most battles because of its favorable match up versus some common archetypes that this team has a little bit of trouble getting past. it's always nice to keep it alive due to its priority taunt and thunder wave to help support the team.
COMMON_ARCHETYPE MATCHUPS_
Big 6:
thundurus + kangaskhan leads well against most big 6 leads and is immediately able to put on the pressure against smeargle should it lead. primal kyogre + ferrothorn in the back helps against groudon + xerneas as well as mega salamence.
RayOgre:
thundurus + mega salamence is able to pressure both the restricted pokemon heavily which makes these two great leads against them. ferrrothorn + kyogre shows up once again in the back to help against opposing primal kyogre and getting rid of their bulky ground-type.
Dual Primal:
these 4 come up again when taking on dual primal teams, as the primals get overwhelmed by thundurus + salamence. primal kyogre + ferrothorn helps control the weather and give me secondary primal checks as well.
Yveltal + Groudon:
zekrom + primal kyogre work somewhat well against the yveltal+groudon matchup especially given the zekrom spread and item. ferro helps against ones that run mega mawile as their xerneas 'check' and mega salamence gives ferrothorn troubles as well as being another check to primal groudon. still struggles against yveltal no matter how hard i try.
Ho-oh + Primal Kyogre:
the dual dragon lead allows me to overwhelm the two restricted pokemon early game. zekrom's typing allows it to take on ho-oh relatively well and it doesn't struggle much against primal kyogre either. ferrothorn + primal kyogre appear once again because of their ability to check the two restricted pokemon as well as pokemon like landorus-t and mega kangaskhan that the opponent may be carrying.
Dialga + Primal Kyogre:
thundurus + mega kangaskhan heavily pressures dialga from setting up trick room and just has a nice match up against the archetype overall. ferrothorn checks primal kyogre as well and primal kyogre gets rid of the bulky ground-type that's most likely on their team.
Palkia + Primal Groudon:
mega salamence takes the two on quite well and beats many of the potential teammates they might have. thundurus helps against the potential bulky grass-type they have and provides speed control. ferrothorn helps against palkia as well and primal kyogre beats primal groudon and any other ground-types the archetype may offer.
Xerneas + Primal Kyogre:
the kangaskhan + thundurus lead beats most redirectors pretty nicely and can prevent xerneas from setting up which is essential. ferrothorn + primal kyogre beat common primal groudon checks and can take on primal kyogre well too.
Gravity:
this is by far this team's worst match up. kyurem-white spams blizzard with little to no cost which really rips this build apart. however, zekrom + mega kangaskhan beat most leads for gravity, though i will most likely be sacking one of my own pokemon to do so. primal kyogre is in the back to help against primal groudon and thundurus helps against common sleep inducers bar whimsicott. it's shaky, but it can prevail against gravity.
and that's it! i hope you enjoyed reading my second rate my team. zekrom is definitely a difficult pokemon to build around and as such there are weaknesses that are bound to arise. please feel free to leave any constructive comments.
Shoutouts
Steven Stone you've been a great friend ever since i've joined ps! i'm glad you're getting more involved in rating n_n
IronBullet you're just an awesome guy and i'm excited to get more involved in rmt as a whole
ClaimingRobin nerd.
Serapis you're an amazing player and i hope you do good at worlds!
Mishimono this is my 30th post. are you proud yet?
North Gate you're one of a few people to have a brain \o/
DaAwesomeDude1 fun to be around, it's a shame you don't get on ps as much anymore
ADustyGlommer glad to see you're sorta back
Zekrom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Teravolt
Level: 50
EVs: 140 Atk / 212 SpA / 156 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Bolt Strike
- Draco Meteor
- Rock Tomb
- Protect
Kyogre-Primal @ Blue Orb
Ability: Primordial Sea
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 204 Def / 76 SpA / 4 SpD / 36 Spe
Modest Nature
- Water Spout
- Origin Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Protect
Kangaskhan-Mega @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Parental Bond
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 188 Atk / 76 Def / 4 SpD / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Double-Edge
- Low Kick
- Sucker Punch
Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Double-Edge
- Draco Meteor
- Protect
Ferrothorn @ Expert Belt
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 60 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect
Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 180 HP / 60 Def / 4 SpA / 164 SpD / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
- Protect
Ability: Teravolt
Level: 50
EVs: 140 Atk / 212 SpA / 156 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Bolt Strike
- Draco Meteor
- Rock Tomb
- Protect
Kyogre-Primal @ Blue Orb
Ability: Primordial Sea
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 204 Def / 76 SpA / 4 SpD / 36 Spe
Modest Nature
- Water Spout
- Origin Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Protect
Kangaskhan-Mega @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Parental Bond
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 188 Atk / 76 Def / 4 SpD / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Double-Edge
- Low Kick
- Sucker Punch
Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Double-Edge
- Draco Meteor
- Protect
Ferrothorn @ Expert Belt
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 60 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect
Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 180 HP / 60 Def / 4 SpA / 164 SpD / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
- Protect
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