Darmanitan's Army

[MewTwoMaster]

Okay. so this is my first ever competitive team. I was messing around in the tiers and I really like the Pokes in UU and I love Darmanitan so I tried to make a team centered around him. I've been winning about 65% of my Showdown battles using the UU Singles match finder. Marriland user Flygoncool21 helped me. Bold are edits.

Darmanitan (M) @ Life Orb

Trait: Sheer Force
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-turn

Darmanitan is the center piece of my team. I was messing around on the Smogon UU Tier page and saw him and thought "Yup, I'm building a team around him." And now here I am. I did some digging and the other five Pokes are the ones I feel would best compliment him. He is the steak of this team, everyone else is the sides. I went with Jolly nature because his best defense is speed.

Blastoise (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Torrent
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Roar
- Toxic

I chose Blastoise for a couple reasons. He gets ineffective damage against Darmanitan's water checks and is bulky enough to take some hits from Ghost types like Chandelure. I was thinking about getting rid of Roar because I never use that. I'm looking for more diversity from him but I'm just not sure what. I love RS and Toxic the other two are the ones I'm iffy on.

Bronzong @ Leftovers

Trait: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Toxic
- Earthquake

Good ole Bronzong. Man I love this guy. Great typing. Excellent lead for Stealth Rock. Can Toxic some Pokes and do great STAB damage with Gyro Ball. Has a lot of bulk so he can last a few rounds. Unfortunately I ALWAYS get his with Heat Wave or Fire Blast and it OHKO's him and I HATE IT!!! I'm seriously thinking of giving him Heatproof just because that would give him one more move for either switching out to come back later for more Stealth Rock or taking on any Poison U threats (Gengar? Crobat?)

Rhyperior (M) @ Lum Berry

Trait: Solid Rock
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk/ 4SpD/ 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Ice Punch

I used to have him as my tank but Exbo suggested the Rock Polish set and it's beautiful. I went with Ice Punch over Mega Horn because I already have a Mega Horn user in Heracross. I'm still deciding between the Life Orb or the Lum Berry but I'm going with the Lum Berry for now. He's a late game sweeper which may leave my CS Heracross open to be replaced since that's the same role. I've had issues eliminating Rhyperiors checks in order to use him properly though.

Zapdos @ Leftovers

Trait: Pressure (Will switch to Lightingrod once DW is released)
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Grass
- Roost

Loving Zapdos. I would prefer a more offensive set but the set I have has worked very well. Then once DW Zapdos comes out and I can switch to LightningRod HELLO! That makes him even better! He's the perfect counter to Darmnitan and Rhyperiors checks of Water. I was considering replacing Volt Switch with uhhh Heat Wave but I'm not sure if that'll be good. Excellent defensive typing and he's faster than most of his checks so I can slam them with HP Grass.

Heracross (M) @ Choice Scarf

Trait: Moxie
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Heracross is my revenge killer and late game sweeper. I just HATE being locked into one move with the CS. I've seriously considered replacing it with the Expert Belt or something that boosts speed but me being a noob to battling I've decided to listen to the more experienced players. I've had great luck with late game sweeping with him before and Moxie is just absolutely wonderful.

Overall, with the edits I've made, they've been good. I'm still learning how to play and anticipate. Heck, I have brain farts and forget about typing at times.

Thanks guys!

 

[Laga]

Welcome to smogon, and nice RMT for your first ever post :] I have a few tweaks and a suggestion for a pokemon change.

First of all (and this is a small tweak) I think your Blastoise should run torrent over rain dish. Since your team isn't a rain dance team, rain dish won't really benefit you at all. The Torrent boost can be game changing when it comes to the power a scald can deliver, and if the other ability doesn't help, why not? :^D

The second tweak I would suggest is to run a Jolly nature on Darmanitan. It might reduce power a bit, but since you are not running scarf, speed is nice so you can move first and avoid being hit. On such frail pokemon as Darmanitan, speed is the best defense.

Now, the big change I have in mind is that you replace your Bronzong. I know that it seems that you like him on your team, but I think that 2 stealth rock users is a bit too much. Instead, I think you should a Roserade. I am not sure if you should run Offensive Roserade, or Spiker Roserade though. Offensive roserade will make for fantastic offensive synergy with Darmanitan, and Spiker Roserade will allow you to start shuffling with Blastoise and Rhyperior (Roar and D-Tail repectively). Here are the Roserade sets that I think you should try out replacing Bronzong, as your team doesn't really seem to need it.

Hide

Roserade @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder
- Rest

This is the offensive Roserade, as I said it would work really well offensively with Darmanitan, and provide a Sleep-inducing move to abuse.

Roserade @ Black Sludge
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Spikes
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Rest / Synthesis

This is the other Roserade i was talking about - the spiker roserade. Setting up spikes will be very beneficial to your Blastoise and your Rhyperior for phazing, as it will hurt grounded pokemon on the switch in.

So, that sums up my rate of your team, and I hope you can use these suggestions, or at least test them :] have a nice day ^_^

 

[patrick11756]

Hey there good team! Just a few points. I don't think your team needs a rapid spinner, nor a second stealth rocker. Darmanitan is going to scare most hazard setters away (froslass, roserade, rhyperior). Having 2 tanks for sr is a waste tbh. Rhyperior is clearly the better choice for its ability to effectively counter non hp grass zapdos and crobat.

I recommend switching blastoise for qwilfish and bronzong as specially defensive roserade. Both can lay more hazards which helps darm/hera sweep. Roserade absorbs the special water/grass attacks aimed at rhyperior. Qwilfish is a great check to scarf mienshao who is a threat to your team. I've been using the qwilfish/rose/perior core and its working well. After an intimidate, rhyperior can tank se hits better thanks to solid rock, which allows it to attack, set up sr, or phaze with dragon tail.

Other than that, good team!

 

[MewTwoMaster]

Wow. You guys are great. I was expecting to be ripped to shreds. lol.

Roserade (I've NEVER used her before) is grass right? So she can be used as a counter to Rhyperior and Darmanitan's checks?

I'm going to try out Spiker Roserade for Bronzong and I need to get Jolly Darmanitan.

I'm not sure about Qwilfish though. I'm partial to Blastoise. I'm sentimental lol.

EDIT: I tried out the Roserade edit on Showdown. It went well!!! I won!!! I was facing another noob though and he kept hitting Roserade with Sp Atk. Question. Can we use 3 layers of Spikes AND a layer of SR?

Also, I did single and led with Roserade... is that good or should it be Rhyperior since he's bulkier?

 

[Exbo]

Okay, first of all: calling others noobs is rude. Especially when you don't know what type Roserade is or what gen Heracross is (btw it's Grass/Poison, Hera is gen2 and the sprite you are looking for is below)

Male -

Female

Anyway,

I'd suggest replacing SR on Rhypherior with:
-Rock polish, to make him a mini-Terrakion who can demolish teams with his counters* down, or
-Megahorn, if you want to hit hard a predicted Grass type on the switch
(between the two I suggest Rock Polish, by far)

If you do choose Rock polish, you should also change your entire set like so:
Rhyperior @ Life Orb/Lum Berry (Depending on whether you are afraid of Will-o's or not. Frankly, Rhypherior doesn't mind any other status, but when burned it's just death fodder)
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd (Max sweeping potential)
Jolly Nature
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Stone Edge/Megahorn/Aqua Tail/Fire Punch (depending on what you want to hit)

*Anything with base speed >130 (Crobat LOL) or any scarf with base speed > 70 (Hera, Shao, Flygon) or any bulky Grass or any bulky Ghost with Will-o

If you end up changing Rhypherior, I suggest you keep Bronzong.

EDIT~
Now for Togekiss: Umm you could try a
Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
Adamant Nature
-Brave Bird
-Superpower
-Sucker Punch
-Roost/Substitute/Taunt (I recommend Taunt)
With it as a lead, ON ANY TEAM, you will be surprised by how easy it is to take down 2-3 pokemon before it goes down (and if you face a hard counter like Zapdos, you can always switch out to Bronzong/Rhypherior)

 

[MewTwoMaster]

Thanks Exbo! I don't mean the noob comment in a bad way. It's not a negative thing to me. All it is, to me anyway, is just someone who's new at whatever it is they're doing. Like, I'm a noob to competitive battling.

Couple questions. Why is burned a bigger deal then poison? Are there more Will-O users in UU? I'll try it out and I'll use Aqua tail for now because I don't have a water attack and Darmanitan can wipe out the Grass counters.

Oh, man I love Honchkrow. But that'll be four potential "sweepers" a SR in Bronzong and Support in Blastoise.

 

[Exbo]

Well, BRN really hurts for two reasons:
1) It halves your attack, which PSN doesnt.
2) If you end up using the Rhyperior I suggested, it will be a late game sweeper. In late game, you don't mind toxic racking up more than it should, you want to set up Rock polish on a switch out and kill everything.
That's also why I said to remove his counters beforehand, which Darmanitan can do pretty well. Toxic on Blastoise should also help against water types, while Fighting types can be picked off by not only darmanitan, but Bronzong and your Flying type. A ghost on your team would also help to cripple said fighters, but a) this team is supposed to revolve around Darmanitan, not Rhypherior and b) the only thing on your team that can be substituted (imo) is Togekiss, for which I've already given a suggestion.

And yes, there are many Will-O users, the worst ones being Sableye (because Prankster) and Dusclops (because Eviolite).

By the way, Aqua tail is very situational because it will only hit opposing Rhyperior and Gligar hard. Do try Megahorn/Stone edge/Ice punch a bit (why the hell did I suggest Fire punch before? O.o) Actually, Ice punch is a really good option against Gligar/Flygon (sorry, but the Damage Calc page is down atm, but I really recommend trying it)

Another note: Yes, you are right, that will be four sweepers. Do you know what goes really well with sweepers? VoltTurning. Darm already has U-Turn, why not switch Togekiss to this? You need an anti-water to help Darm AND Rhypherior, and Zapdos helps a lot!
Zapdos @ Life Orb/Leftovers (Depending on whether you want a fourth sweeper or a special wall, and please note that so far you have 3 Physical sweepers and 2 Physical walls, so you are too weak on the special side)
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd (Max sweeping potential) OR 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd (SR HP number, special wall spread, recommended)
Timid/Calm Nature
- Thunderbolt/Discharge
- Volt Switch
- HP Grass (not Ice, remember that you are "anti-water")
- Roost
(I didn't suggest a SubCM set because I assumed you will want to keep the offensive momentum going)

 

[MewTwoMaster]

Man I completely forgot about BRN halving attack. I have so much to learn... Kinda sad since I've been playing Pokemon for nearly 16 years.

Will definitely be using Rhyperior for that late game sweeping. And will use Ice Punch instead of Aqua Tail.

So I should switch Togekiss to Zapdos? Awesome. Love Zapdos. Now if only DW was out that'd be even better.

I'm going to go with your recommended EV spread and Calm Nature.

You've been immensely helpful.

 

[Exbo]

Do keep in mind that Darm is immune to Will-O, if things get rough with those ghosts, and they rarely (to never) carry Toxic AND Will-O. So they won't be able to stall you to death!

Glad I was of help. Waiting for results!

 

[MewTwoMaster]

Well, I did 5 battles with the new team. Lost them all. :( I think some of it is just bad luck and most of it was my "noobness" in battling. For instance I threw out Stealth Rock on Espeon and it turns out it was DW Espeon because it got bounced back to me. Then I tried to Toxic it on the next turn! Is levitate the best ability for bronzong? I was thinking of Heat Proof because he ALWAYS gets taken down by Overheat, Fire Blast, Heat Wave etc etc.

I made mistake after mistake. Saw Zapdos, brought in Rhyperior. Did Rock Polish, got hit with HP Grass. Super Effective Crit hit and my late game sweeper is gone.

I should've saved the video.

 

[BKC]

please expand the descriptions or i'll have to lock this thread.

 

[KM]

Well, I did 5 battles with the new team. Lost them all. :( I think some of it is just bad luck and most of it was my "noobness" in battling. For instance I threw out Stealth Rock on Espeon and it turns out it was DW Espeon because it got bounced back to me. Then I tried to Toxic it on the next turn! Is levitate the best ability for bronzong? I was thinking of Heat Proof because he ALWAYS gets taken down by Overheat, Fire Blast, Heat Wave etc etc.

I made mistake after mistake. Saw Zapdos, brought in Rhyperior. Did Rock Polish, got hit with HP Grass. Super Effective Crit hit and my late game sweeper is gone.

I should've saved the video.

Are you sure you're playing the right tier? Espeon isn't UU, lol. Heatproof is viable on Bronzong, but only if your team doesn't need the levitate support. Given that you have another flier, you could go either way.

 

[MewTwoMaster]

please expand the descriptions or i'll have to lock this thread.

Done. I mistook "3 lines" as "3 sentences" Won't happen again.

@Kitten Milk. Cute name BTW. I did about 40 battles last night with this team and an OU team. I got crossed up. Obviously the Espeon was in the OU battle. My point was I'm still a noob when it comes to battling lol. I like your suggestion on Bronzong. I'm going to try it out. He ALWAYS gets KO'ed by a freaking fire move.