[UPDATED 8/10/2013]
My journey to perfect the KrowPert Trickroom core continues.
I decided to make a new thread instead of bumping the old one because this team has changed very, very drastically and I figure it's almost an entirely different team besides Honchkrow and Swampert.
Also, upon the evolution of this team, I decided I would try Pokemon Showdown. Before this team, I had done most of my battling on Wifi and I really wanted PS to become my main source of battling. So far it's been going great.
[RANKING, UPDATED 8/10/2013]
I was playing this team during the suspect test, so here are both of the scores. Pretty darn good! At least, for me anyways >.<
TEAM BUILDING
This team started off with the idea of Trick Room Honchkrow. I thought it would be interesting to see how well he would do in such a different environment.
I wanted to create a strong offensive core with Honchkrow that would eliminate a wide variety of threats. Swampert turned out to be the perfect partner, having great synergy with Honchkrow.
Next up, I needed a reliable setter of Trick Room. Bronzong seemed like a logical and attractive option at first because of his nice bulk and good utility.
Porygon2 would be an additional setter of Trick Room, albeit a more offensive one.
Next up, I wanted an alternate way to seal a win condition if the KrowPurt core somehow broke. OTR Cofagrigus was my answer to this.
The last spot was the hardest to fill a Pokemon with. At first, I wanted a Pokemon that could abuse Trick Room. I tried Specs Magneton, Band Emboar, and even a Specs Tangrowth. However, in the end, I decided that I needed a Pokemon that could work outside of Trick Room as well. Sub+3 Attacks Heracross was my answer because it's really easy to set up a Sub on Heracross due to the Scarf set being so popular, and it could also help me eliminate pesky dark types.
Testing with the team began. First off, I felt like the team did not have enough momentum to keep Trick Room consistently up when I needed it, and I was failing to get rid of threats due to this. It was clear that changes to the team needed to be made.
The first thing that I wanted to change about the team was Cofagrigus. Overall, it just wasn't hitting hard enough, even after a couple Nasty Plots. I wanted more offensive power. I searched and searched for a proper alternative; one that would be able to run a similar set but with more power under its bealt. Eventually, I ran into a gem of a Pokemon, Beheeyem, who is perfectly designed to wreck havoc under Trick Room.
The team was doing significantly better with Beheeyem, however, Porygon2 was now turning into a momentum sucker. Porygon2 is regarded as a very effective TR Pokemon, but I just didn't feel like it was doing much for me. Thanks to Kitten Milk, I ran into Trick Room Victini, a very powerful and effective threat that I still use.
I also owe this Pokemon to Kitten Milk.... Thanks dude. Anyways, I decided to replace Bronzong with Smeargle because, overall, I really just don't like Bronzong aesthetically and I always thought it as kind of an oddball on the team. Smeargle has proven to be a very good Trick Room abuser though, so I don't regret the decision.
After all the changes, I ended up having a pretty cool looking Trick Room team that I really liked. This is definitely my favorite team that I have made. Very later on though, I ended up making one last change. Gallade replaced Heracross because it could pretty much run the same set that Heracross was running, abuse and set up Trick Room, and hit just as hard.
The team has been really fun to play with, and I'm really happy with how far it has come these past couple weeks. However, I felt that as the team raised to a higher and higher rank, some of the gimmicks needed to be ironed out in order for the team to be, overall, more effective. I found that more and more people were catching on to the Smeargle set, and because of this, I'd often find myself at a 5-6 disadvantage. Xatu replaced him as the lead to give my team some much needed utility and a weapon against entry hazards. Also, Cofagrigus makes a return on this team again as my Nasty-Room sweeper because I needed a weapon against the omnipresent Heracross, and the extra bulk.
THE TEAM!
(changes in bold UPDATED 8/10/2013)
Honchkrow (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Def.
IVs: 0 Spd.
Brave Nature
- Brave Bird
- Superpower
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
Trick Room may not be an environment that Honchkrow is familiar with, but damn is it an effective abuser of it. While Trick Room is up, I basically have the freedom to let off a powerful STAB Brave Bird without fear, eliminating the need to use the shaky and not-as-powerful Sucker Punch as an alternative. Additionally, since Trick Room allows me to invest in HP rather than Speed, Brave Bird recoil now does less damage to my Honchkrow percentage-wise. Superpower is also there to hit what may resist Brave Bird hard. Pursuit can be used to guarantee me a Moxie boost. Sucker Punch is there so that Honchkrow can be effective even after Trick Room has worn off during the late game.
Swampert (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Def.
IVs: 0 Spd.
Brave Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Hammer Arm
Swampert is really the perfect partner for Honchkrow, forming what I call the KrowPert core. Choice Swampert is very powerful and can deal massive damage to the opposing team under the right conditions. Earthquake is the main move of choice, hitting everything for very valuable damage. However, Earthquake is often not a very good move to be choice locked into, so sometimes using Waterfall is a better choice. Normally, I don't favor the Ice type as a coverage move, however in Swampert's case it's an absolute necessity. Having an option to hit grass and flying types hard is very important. Hammer Arm is mostly a filler move, but it does have the nice bonus of lowering my speed after each use, which in Trick Room means I'm boosting it.
Xatu(M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Sp Atk, 252 HP, 4 Sp. Def
IVs: 0 Spd.
Quiet Nature
- Trick Room
- Heat Wave
- Grass Knot
- Psychic
Here's an interesting one. Trick Room Xatu is really helpful; it's offensive enough to do some decent damage to things that may cause my team some trouble, like Rhyperior and Heracross, and it also has a ton of utility for my team by keeping hazards off the field and bouncing back other effects like taunt. I ended up replacing Smeargle for Xatu because Smeargle just wasn't pulling his weight anymore. People who knew the set could pretty much stop me cold and make it a 5-6 matchup in no time, which was really hurting my team. Xatu, although still somewhat gimmicky, has proven to be a lot more effective.
Cofagrigus (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Mummy
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 HP, 4 Def.
IVs: 2 Atk, 2 Spd, 30 Sp. Atk, 30 Sp. Def, 30 Def.
Quiet Nature
- Trick Room
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power Fighting
As much as I absolutely loved Beheeyem, I kind of had to face the facts and add Cofagrigus to my team. Cofagrigus is a decently effective Trick Room abuser that helps me take care of a Pokemon that was really giving me trouble, Heracross. I sometimes miss Beheeyem though, and the power he offers. My team needed better defensive synergy, however, and I think Cofagrigus ties everything together nicely. Thanks to PsYch071c for persuading me to make this change.
Victini @ Leftovers
Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Sp Atk, 4 Sp. Def.
IVs: 0 Spd.
Brave Nature
- Trick Room
- V-Create
- Fusion Bolt
- Grass Knot
Victini is a very powerful Pokemon under Trick Room. V-Create also has perfect synergy with it; actually boosting Victini's speed every turn rather than hampering it. This basically means that V-Create sweeps are actually possible now, which is incredible considering the attack has 180 base power. The reason behind using Fusion Bolt instead of Bolt Strike is because Bolt Strike actually has a paralyzation chance. This is usually a good thing, but under Trick Room, lowering the opponent's speed is something I don't want to do, especially considering that Victini still does have a pretty fast speed stat. Grass Knot is basically just to get around opposing Swampert and Rhyperior which would otherwise wall this set.
Thanks Kitten Milk >.<
Gallade @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 HP, 4 Sp. Def.
IVs: 0 Spd.
Brave Nature
- Trick Room
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Night Slash
Gallade is another setter of Trick Room and I Pokemon I find to be very effective. It's definitely underrated. I previously had a Sub+3 Attacks Heracross here, and the idea behind this set is basically the same except now I'm able to abuse Trick Room at the same time. With the addition of Gallade, 2/3 of the team can set up Trick Room, which means that it definitely is going to be up most of the time. Close Combat is sure to put some big holes into opposing Pokemon, and Night Slash is there to hit Pokemon that are immune to the STAB.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This team has changed a lot and, to be honest, I don't know what else to do with it. I want to do better on the PS ladder (The score I posted before accounts for all of the team's changes, so I'm planning on starting fresh) and I'm looking to get some constructive feedback. With that said, I hope you enjoyed reading my RMT and feel free to leave me any of your thoughts. :)
My journey to perfect the KrowPert Trickroom core continues.
I decided to make a new thread instead of bumping the old one because this team has changed very, very drastically and I figure it's almost an entirely different team besides Honchkrow and Swampert.
Also, upon the evolution of this team, I decided I would try Pokemon Showdown. Before this team, I had done most of my battling on Wifi and I really wanted PS to become my main source of battling. So far it's been going great.
[RANKING, UPDATED 8/10/2013]
I was playing this team during the suspect test, so here are both of the scores. Pretty darn good! At least, for me anyways >.<
TEAM BUILDING
This team started off with the idea of Trick Room Honchkrow. I thought it would be interesting to see how well he would do in such a different environment.
I wanted to create a strong offensive core with Honchkrow that would eliminate a wide variety of threats. Swampert turned out to be the perfect partner, having great synergy with Honchkrow.
Next up, I needed a reliable setter of Trick Room. Bronzong seemed like a logical and attractive option at first because of his nice bulk and good utility.
Porygon2 would be an additional setter of Trick Room, albeit a more offensive one.
Next up, I wanted an alternate way to seal a win condition if the KrowPurt core somehow broke. OTR Cofagrigus was my answer to this.
The last spot was the hardest to fill a Pokemon with. At first, I wanted a Pokemon that could abuse Trick Room. I tried Specs Magneton, Band Emboar, and even a Specs Tangrowth. However, in the end, I decided that I needed a Pokemon that could work outside of Trick Room as well. Sub+3 Attacks Heracross was my answer because it's really easy to set up a Sub on Heracross due to the Scarf set being so popular, and it could also help me eliminate pesky dark types.
Testing with the team began. First off, I felt like the team did not have enough momentum to keep Trick Room consistently up when I needed it, and I was failing to get rid of threats due to this. It was clear that changes to the team needed to be made.
The first thing that I wanted to change about the team was Cofagrigus. Overall, it just wasn't hitting hard enough, even after a couple Nasty Plots. I wanted more offensive power. I searched and searched for a proper alternative; one that would be able to run a similar set but with more power under its bealt. Eventually, I ran into a gem of a Pokemon, Beheeyem, who is perfectly designed to wreck havoc under Trick Room.
The team was doing significantly better with Beheeyem, however, Porygon2 was now turning into a momentum sucker. Porygon2 is regarded as a very effective TR Pokemon, but I just didn't feel like it was doing much for me. Thanks to Kitten Milk, I ran into Trick Room Victini, a very powerful and effective threat that I still use.
I also owe this Pokemon to Kitten Milk.... Thanks dude. Anyways, I decided to replace Bronzong with Smeargle because, overall, I really just don't like Bronzong aesthetically and I always thought it as kind of an oddball on the team. Smeargle has proven to be a very good Trick Room abuser though, so I don't regret the decision.
After all the changes, I ended up having a pretty cool looking Trick Room team that I really liked. This is definitely my favorite team that I have made. Very later on though, I ended up making one last change. Gallade replaced Heracross because it could pretty much run the same set that Heracross was running, abuse and set up Trick Room, and hit just as hard.
The team has been really fun to play with, and I'm really happy with how far it has come these past couple weeks. However, I felt that as the team raised to a higher and higher rank, some of the gimmicks needed to be ironed out in order for the team to be, overall, more effective. I found that more and more people were catching on to the Smeargle set, and because of this, I'd often find myself at a 5-6 disadvantage. Xatu replaced him as the lead to give my team some much needed utility and a weapon against entry hazards. Also, Cofagrigus makes a return on this team again as my Nasty-Room sweeper because I needed a weapon against the omnipresent Heracross, and the extra bulk.
THE TEAM!
(changes in bold UPDATED 8/10/2013)
Honchkrow (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Def.
IVs: 0 Spd.
Brave Nature
- Brave Bird
- Superpower
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
Trick Room may not be an environment that Honchkrow is familiar with, but damn is it an effective abuser of it. While Trick Room is up, I basically have the freedom to let off a powerful STAB Brave Bird without fear, eliminating the need to use the shaky and not-as-powerful Sucker Punch as an alternative. Additionally, since Trick Room allows me to invest in HP rather than Speed, Brave Bird recoil now does less damage to my Honchkrow percentage-wise. Superpower is also there to hit what may resist Brave Bird hard. Pursuit can be used to guarantee me a Moxie boost. Sucker Punch is there so that Honchkrow can be effective even after Trick Room has worn off during the late game.
Swampert (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Def.
IVs: 0 Spd.
Brave Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Hammer Arm
Swampert is really the perfect partner for Honchkrow, forming what I call the KrowPert core. Choice Swampert is very powerful and can deal massive damage to the opposing team under the right conditions. Earthquake is the main move of choice, hitting everything for very valuable damage. However, Earthquake is often not a very good move to be choice locked into, so sometimes using Waterfall is a better choice. Normally, I don't favor the Ice type as a coverage move, however in Swampert's case it's an absolute necessity. Having an option to hit grass and flying types hard is very important. Hammer Arm is mostly a filler move, but it does have the nice bonus of lowering my speed after each use, which in Trick Room means I'm boosting it.
Xatu(M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Sp Atk, 252 HP, 4 Sp. Def
IVs: 0 Spd.
Quiet Nature
- Trick Room
- Heat Wave
- Grass Knot
- Psychic
Here's an interesting one. Trick Room Xatu is really helpful; it's offensive enough to do some decent damage to things that may cause my team some trouble, like Rhyperior and Heracross, and it also has a ton of utility for my team by keeping hazards off the field and bouncing back other effects like taunt. I ended up replacing Smeargle for Xatu because Smeargle just wasn't pulling his weight anymore. People who knew the set could pretty much stop me cold and make it a 5-6 matchup in no time, which was really hurting my team. Xatu, although still somewhat gimmicky, has proven to be a lot more effective.
Cofagrigus (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Mummy
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 HP, 4 Def.
IVs: 2 Atk, 2 Spd, 30 Sp. Atk, 30 Sp. Def, 30 Def.
Quiet Nature
- Trick Room
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power Fighting
As much as I absolutely loved Beheeyem, I kind of had to face the facts and add Cofagrigus to my team. Cofagrigus is a decently effective Trick Room abuser that helps me take care of a Pokemon that was really giving me trouble, Heracross. I sometimes miss Beheeyem though, and the power he offers. My team needed better defensive synergy, however, and I think Cofagrigus ties everything together nicely. Thanks to PsYch071c for persuading me to make this change.
Victini @ Leftovers
Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Sp Atk, 4 Sp. Def.
IVs: 0 Spd.
Brave Nature
- Trick Room
- V-Create
- Fusion Bolt
- Grass Knot
Victini is a very powerful Pokemon under Trick Room. V-Create also has perfect synergy with it; actually boosting Victini's speed every turn rather than hampering it. This basically means that V-Create sweeps are actually possible now, which is incredible considering the attack has 180 base power. The reason behind using Fusion Bolt instead of Bolt Strike is because Bolt Strike actually has a paralyzation chance. This is usually a good thing, but under Trick Room, lowering the opponent's speed is something I don't want to do, especially considering that Victini still does have a pretty fast speed stat. Grass Knot is basically just to get around opposing Swampert and Rhyperior which would otherwise wall this set.
Thanks Kitten Milk >.<
Gallade @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 HP, 4 Sp. Def.
IVs: 0 Spd.
Brave Nature
- Trick Room
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Night Slash
Gallade is another setter of Trick Room and I Pokemon I find to be very effective. It's definitely underrated. I previously had a Sub+3 Attacks Heracross here, and the idea behind this set is basically the same except now I'm able to abuse Trick Room at the same time. With the addition of Gallade, 2/3 of the team can set up Trick Room, which means that it definitely is going to be up most of the time. Close Combat is sure to put some big holes into opposing Pokemon, and Night Slash is there to hit Pokemon that are immune to the STAB.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This team has changed a lot and, to be honest, I don't know what else to do with it. I want to do better on the PS ladder (The score I posted before accounts for all of the team's changes, so I'm planning on starting fresh) and I'm looking to get some constructive feedback. With that said, I hope you enjoyed reading my RMT and feel free to leave me any of your thoughts. :)
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