Well, as the first ever Generation V UnderUsed Suspect Testing comes to a close, I figured now would be a good a time as any to post the team I used during the entire testing period. One of my favorite, and best, teams since my Dream World OU Drizzle team. As you can probably guess, this team is a Drought focused team, revolving around four different Pokemon that all take advantage of the Sun.
Vulpix @ Eviolite
Ability: Drought
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP | 156 Def | 100 SpD
- Flamethrower
- Will-o-Wisp
- Confuse Ray
- Toxic
Weather, all day, every day. The EVs give Vulpix the defenses of a 0/0 Hitmontop (IIRC), which isn't too horrible. Flamethrower is mostly so Vulpix won't be complete Taunt-bait, and has an attack for hitting Abomasnow if it tries to stay in. Will-o-Wisp and Toxic are solely for crippling Pokemon that come in and try to set-up, like Donphan and Deoxys-D. Standard 0 Spe Donphan is slower than 0 Spe Vulpix, giving me a chance to Burn it and switch out to Tangrowth to give it a chance to set-up. Toxic is around for hitting bulky Water-types on the switch, like Slowbro, and nailing Kyurem on the switch. Confuse Ray is mostly just for annoying the shit out of my opponents and helping me to stall for extra Burn / Toxic damage. As weak as Vulpix is, both defensive and offensively, it remains a vital part of the team.
Tangrowth @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP | 252 SpA | 252 Spe
- Growth
- Sleep Powder
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Giga Drain
TANGROWTH! The mass of vines came to party. Tangrowth has quite a bit going for it. Growth, Sleep Powder, a newly upgraded Giga Drain, and some pretty decent HP and Defense. Tangrowth is usually the first line of offense, wiping out Pokemon after Pokemon with +2 Giga Drain + Hidden Power [Fire]. Of course, there are some Pokemon that cause that combination of moves some problems, such as Flash Fire Arcanine and Houndoom. However, the pros far outweigh the cons of using only those two moves, as running Sleep Powder in the second slot gives Tangrowth more time to set up and can remove a pesky counter from the game.
Victreebel @ Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Lonely
EVs: 252 Atk | 54 SpA | 200 Spe
- Growth
- Sleep Powder
- Power Whip
- Sludge Bomb
Victreebel became necessary when I noticed that Tangrowth was insanely Chansey-weak. Victreebel can come in on Chansey as it tries to use Toxic on Tangrowth and go to town, setting up multiple Growths and Power Whipping his way through the opponent's team. Sadly, Power Whip is illegal with both Sucker Punch and Weather Ball, and I'd rather not use Hidden Power [Fire], so I went with Sludge Bomb. +1 Power Whip + +2 Sludge Bomb usually KOs defensive Arcanine sets, as well as defensive Rotom-h. Registeel is a small issue, along with Escavalier, due to the fact that both of them either 4x resist my attack or are completely immune to it (Power Whip and Sludge Bomb, respectively). Those two are the main reasons why I'm still considering running HP Fire over Sludge Bomb, but then I'm rather weak against Rotom-h and Arcanine, two Pokemon that are a problem for this team otherwise.
Sawsbuck @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Horn Leech
- Frustration
- Nature Power
I'd say that Sawsbuck is the best Chlorophyll sweeper, behind Venusaur of course. It's got nearly unresisted coverage (damn you, Rotom), a decent base 80 speed, and very nice base 100 attack, which can be boosted even higher with Swords Dance. Sawsbuck also comes with its own recovery in the form of Horn Leech, so Life Orb recoil isn't constantly hammering the shit out of me. Frustration over Return because I always forget to put in max happiness on my Pokemon, and Nature Power becomes Earthquake on Pokemon Online. Sawsbuck usually lures out Technician Hitmontop, which can be walled and set-up on by Tangrowth, supposing they don't carry Toxic.
Victini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Victory Star
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe
- V-Create
- Fusion Bolt
-- U-turn
- Zen Headbutt
Scarf Victini is rarely, if ever, expected by my opponent. After one V-Create, I'm still left with just over 300 Speed, enough to hit a non-Scarfed Kyurem or something similar with another V-Create before switching out. Fusion Bolt is really only for bulky Water-types that are close to being KOed, and the same goes for Zen Headbutt. U-turn is completely for momentum and hitting switch-ins for some decent damage before getting out of there. Most of the time, I'm just spamming V-Create with Victini and KOing something.
Hitmontop @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP | 252 Atk | 4 Spe
- Fake Out
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Punch
- Rapid Spin
Hitmontop is one of my favorite Pokemon, and luckily enough, he's very usable in this metagame. Priority Technician boosted Fake Out, Mach Punch, and Bullet Punch go a long way in beating threats that can boost up their Speed, like a weakened Yanmega. Rapid Spin is sitting in the last slot because entry hazards are a bitch, and most Ghost-types are beaten by either Tangrowth or Victreebel, leaving Hitmontop to spin without issue. I've been considering Leftovers over Life Orb, to help Hitmontop's longevity, but for that, it'd be better to just switch to a bulkier set in general. Hitmontop also helps to beat standard Hail teams that run Abomasnow, Kyurem, Froslass, Weavile, Mamoswine, etc, etc.
So, there you have it. I'm pretty much done with this team, but there's still (at the time of writing this) three more days for climbing up the ladder to qualify for Suspect voting. Read, rate, steal, etc, etc.
Well, I know that I wanted to use a Drought team. When I first started using it, it was expected, but no one had any truly specific counters to it. So, Vulpix was the designated first Pokemon.
Alright, I've got the Pokemon that brings in the Sun, now I need some Pokemon that can abuse it. First Pokemon that came to mind is Tangrowth. With rather good HP and Defense stats (100 and 125, respectively), along with great offensive stats (100 and 110), Tangrowth has the option of going Physical, Special, or Mixed, which can play a lot of mind games with opponents. The mass of green vines can also weather a hit and boost up to KO a Pokemon, so Tangrowth was an easy choice.
Alright, now, I already have a decent idea of what my Tangrowth move-set is going to be, so now I need a Pokemon that counters the every annoying Chansey. Victreebel, with its Grass/Poison typing, has an immunity to Toxic, the more common of the two Status moves Chansey can utilize. And with that, Victreebel is added to the team.
Now, I wanted needed something insanely fast (under the Sun) that could abuse Chlorophyll, but could also actually attack (sorry, Jumpluff, maybe next time). With Venusaur off playing in OU, that leaves the Leafeon and Sawsbuck. Now, Leafeon has a better Defense stat, and it doesn't have a vulnerability to something like Technician Hitmontop. However, Sawsbuck has two useful STABs in Grass and Normal, and when paired with Nature Power (which becomes Earthquake on Pokemon Online), has near unresisted coverage in UU, and it even has a chance of resistance to Ghost-type attacks. The choice was clear, Sawsbuck was on the team.
Around the time I was making this team, the Event Victini had finally been released, meaning that V-Create and Fusion Bolt were both available for use. V-Create has a base power of 405 under the Sun, so it wasn't even a question, Victini was already a member.
Alright, I've got five Pokemon on this team. Problem is, now I don't have a Pokemon that can counter Hail! Everyone was raving about Thick Fat Curse Snorlax being able to counter both Sun and Hail, so I figured I should give it a shot. Curse Snorlax would also give me another Pokemon capable of dealing with Chansey, so that's always good.
Snorlax didn't perform even nearly as well as I felt it should. Maybe I was using it wrong or something, but I just couldn't get the hang of it. I also began to notice that entry hazards were taking a hard toll on my team. So, I swapped out Snorlax for a Pokemon that could counter Hail as well as get rid of entry hazards. Hitmontop, spin, spin away.
With the final addition of Hitmontop, the team creation process was completed.
Alright, I've got the Pokemon that brings in the Sun, now I need some Pokemon that can abuse it. First Pokemon that came to mind is Tangrowth. With rather good HP and Defense stats (100 and 125, respectively), along with great offensive stats (100 and 110), Tangrowth has the option of going Physical, Special, or Mixed, which can play a lot of mind games with opponents. The mass of green vines can also weather a hit and boost up to KO a Pokemon, so Tangrowth was an easy choice.
Alright, now, I already have a decent idea of what my Tangrowth move-set is going to be, so now I need a Pokemon that counters the every annoying Chansey. Victreebel, with its Grass/Poison typing, has an immunity to Toxic, the more common of the two Status moves Chansey can utilize. And with that, Victreebel is added to the team.
Now, I wanted needed something insanely fast (under the Sun) that could abuse Chlorophyll, but could also actually attack (sorry, Jumpluff, maybe next time). With Venusaur off playing in OU, that leaves the Leafeon and Sawsbuck. Now, Leafeon has a better Defense stat, and it doesn't have a vulnerability to something like Technician Hitmontop. However, Sawsbuck has two useful STABs in Grass and Normal, and when paired with Nature Power (which becomes Earthquake on Pokemon Online), has near unresisted coverage in UU, and it even has a chance of resistance to Ghost-type attacks. The choice was clear, Sawsbuck was on the team.
Around the time I was making this team, the Event Victini had finally been released, meaning that V-Create and Fusion Bolt were both available for use. V-Create has a base power of 405 under the Sun, so it wasn't even a question, Victini was already a member.
Alright, I've got five Pokemon on this team. Problem is, now I don't have a Pokemon that can counter Hail! Everyone was raving about Thick Fat Curse Snorlax being able to counter both Sun and Hail, so I figured I should give it a shot. Curse Snorlax would also give me another Pokemon capable of dealing with Chansey, so that's always good.
Snorlax didn't perform even nearly as well as I felt it should. Maybe I was using it wrong or something, but I just couldn't get the hang of it. I also began to notice that entry hazards were taking a hard toll on my team. So, I swapped out Snorlax for a Pokemon that could counter Hail as well as get rid of entry hazards. Hitmontop, spin, spin away.
With the final addition of Hitmontop, the team creation process was completed.
Team At A Glance
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Vulpix @ Eviolite
Ability: Drought
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP | 156 Def | 100 SpD
Weather, all day, every day. The EVs give Vulpix the defenses of a 0/0 Hitmontop (IIRC), which isn't too horrible. Flamethrower is mostly so Vulpix won't be complete Taunt-bait, and has an attack for hitting Abomasnow if it tries to stay in. Will-o-Wisp and Toxic are solely for crippling Pokemon that come in and try to set-up, like Donphan and Deoxys-D. Standard 0 Spe Donphan is slower than 0 Spe Vulpix, giving me a chance to Burn it and switch out to Tangrowth to give it a chance to set-up. Toxic is around for hitting bulky Water-types on the switch, like Slowbro, and nailing Kyurem on the switch. Confuse Ray is mostly just for annoying the shit out of my opponents and helping me to stall for extra Burn / Toxic damage. As weak as Vulpix is, both defensive and offensively, it remains a vital part of the team.
Tangrowth @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP | 252 SpA | 252 Spe
TANGROWTH! The mass of vines came to party. Tangrowth has quite a bit going for it. Growth, Sleep Powder, a newly upgraded Giga Drain, and some pretty decent HP and Defense. Tangrowth is usually the first line of offense, wiping out Pokemon after Pokemon with +2 Giga Drain + Hidden Power [Fire]. Of course, there are some Pokemon that cause that combination of moves some problems, such as Flash Fire Arcanine and Houndoom. However, the pros far outweigh the cons of using only those two moves, as running Sleep Powder in the second slot gives Tangrowth more time to set up and can remove a pesky counter from the game.
Victreebel @ Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Lonely
EVs: 252 Atk | 54 SpA | 200 Spe
Victreebel became necessary when I noticed that Tangrowth was insanely Chansey-weak. Victreebel can come in on Chansey as it tries to use Toxic on Tangrowth and go to town, setting up multiple Growths and Power Whipping his way through the opponent's team. Sadly, Power Whip is illegal with both Sucker Punch and Weather Ball, and I'd rather not use Hidden Power [Fire], so I went with Sludge Bomb. +1 Power Whip + +2 Sludge Bomb usually KOs defensive Arcanine sets, as well as defensive Rotom-h. Registeel is a small issue, along with Escavalier, due to the fact that both of them either 4x resist my attack or are completely immune to it (Power Whip and Sludge Bomb, respectively). Those two are the main reasons why I'm still considering running HP Fire over Sludge Bomb, but then I'm rather weak against Rotom-h and Arcanine, two Pokemon that are a problem for this team otherwise.
Sawsbuck @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe
I'd say that Sawsbuck is the best Chlorophyll sweeper, behind Venusaur of course. It's got nearly unresisted coverage (damn you, Rotom), a decent base 80 speed, and very nice base 100 attack, which can be boosted even higher with Swords Dance. Sawsbuck also comes with its own recovery in the form of Horn Leech, so Life Orb recoil isn't constantly hammering the shit out of me. Frustration over Return because I always forget to put in max happiness on my Pokemon, and Nature Power becomes Earthquake on Pokemon Online. Sawsbuck usually lures out Technician Hitmontop, which can be walled and set-up on by Tangrowth, supposing they don't carry Toxic.
Victini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Victory Star
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe
Scarf Victini is rarely, if ever, expected by my opponent. After one V-Create, I'm still left with just over 300 Speed, enough to hit a non-Scarfed Kyurem or something similar with another V-Create before switching out. Fusion Bolt is really only for bulky Water-types that are close to being KOed, and the same goes for Zen Headbutt. U-turn is completely for momentum and hitting switch-ins for some decent damage before getting out of there. Most of the time, I'm just spamming V-Create with Victini and KOing something.
Hitmontop @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP | 252 Atk | 4 Spe
Hitmontop is one of my favorite Pokemon, and luckily enough, he's very usable in this metagame. Priority Technician boosted Fake Out, Mach Punch, and Bullet Punch go a long way in beating threats that can boost up their Speed, like a weakened Yanmega. Rapid Spin is sitting in the last slot because entry hazards are a bitch, and most Ghost-types are beaten by either Tangrowth or Victreebel, leaving Hitmontop to spin without issue. I've been considering Leftovers over Life Orb, to help Hitmontop's longevity, but for that, it'd be better to just switch to a bulkier set in general. Hitmontop also helps to beat standard Hail teams that run Abomasnow, Kyurem, Froslass, Weavile, Mamoswine, etc, etc.
So, there you have it. I'm pretty much done with this team, but there's still (at the time of writing this) three more days for climbing up the ladder to qualify for Suspect voting. Read, rate, steal, etc, etc.