A Ditto Lead and a Houndoom Finish!

[Nirvana]

Hey guys so this is another one of my RMTs. It's REALLY REALLY sloppy so I'd appreciate a bunch of help on it. What I'm trying to do is set up a Houndoom sweep because I forgot about Houndoom and want to unlock its true potential by setting it up for an endgame sweep. This team has a bunch of my other favorite Pokemon so enjoy reading and help this team become a competitive one!

First off we have:

Ditto@Quickpowder
Timid Nature
252 HP/ 252 Spd / 4 Def
Limber

Transform

Nothing more need be said! A Ditto lead is a laughable at first, but when you see the true power behind transforming into the enemy's lead Pokemon, the effect is devistating! Transforming into the enemy's suicide lead gives me what their strategy is and could give me the oppurtunity to set up my own rocks on their team. I can also switch it out and bring it in later on something like a Flygon stuck on EQ and threaten it with an Outrage.

Heracross@Choice Scarf

Adamant Nature
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Guts

Night Slash
Pursuit
Close Combat
Megahorn

A revenge killer and a way to kill Blissey. Heracross is one of my favorite Pokemon and my favorite bug type as well! I could switch this in on a Blissey using T-Wave and get a nice Guts boost from it. I can also threaten Ghosts and Psychics with Pursuit and Night Slash.

Rotom Cut@Leftovers

Timid Nature
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Levitate

Leaf Storm
Charge Beam/Will O Wisp
Shadow Ball
Thunderbolt

This is my counter to those annoying Bulky Waters that could stop Houndoom cold in its tracks. Leaf Storm and T-Bolt should destroy Suicune and Swampert, with T-Bolt also harming Suicune and Vap to a decent amount. I can't make my mind on picking Will O Wisp for doing stall damage to them or charge beam so my SpA raises every so often. Also, I've no knowledge of Rotom forms so an EV Spread would also be helpful.

Metagross@ Lum Berry/Leftovers

Adamant Nature
252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SpD
Clear Body

Bullet Punch
Pursuit
Explosion
Earthquake

Here's my primary ghost counter and secondary Blissey counter. I switch it in on Gengar and it gets BP'd or Pursuited. Switch it in on Blissey and it gets Exploded on. It can counter most ghosts, minus Rotom Heat.

Salamence@Life Orb

Naive Nature
16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Intimidate

Draco Meteor
Outrage
Flamethrower
Earthquake

This is my wallbreaker. He does an awesome job at it too! Earthquake's for Heatran and Flamethrower's for Scizor and company. Draco Meteor pummels everything into Oblivion as long as it doesn't miss as well! This thing's amazing and it's saved my ass a couple of times too.

Houndoom@Life Orb

Timid Nature
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Flash Fire

Nasty Plot
Flamethrower
Dark Pulse
Hidden Power Fighting

Ahh the star of the show. Houndoom! Hopefully by the time I send this thing in, the opponents will be weak and whittled down and Houndoom can just NP up and sweep. Fire, Dark, and Fighting aren't resisted by much of anything so as long as there's no Heatrans out there, I should kill almost everything.


So that's the team you guys. I'm a little sloppy at presenting it, but I'm hoping you guys can give me suggestions to the team so that it can work to the best of its abilities. Thanks!

 

[Everstone]

Wouldn't it be better just to use a suicide lead instead of wasting a turn Transforming into one? By the time you transform into the lead you're already at a disadvantage, since they would've either set Stealth Rock up or killed your Ditto. Also, if you switch out you don't remain as the Pokemon you Transformed into, so there's no way you're bringing it in on a Flygon's Earthquake and Outraging it to death, since you'll be spending a turn Transforming into it, and you'll need to take the Earthquake to begin with, which it can't do with its all 48 HP and Defenses.
In short, don't use Ditto. It's the most predictable Pokemon ever and only costs you valuable turns.

 

[Nirvana]

Wouldn't it be better just to use a suicide lead instead of wasting a turn Transforming into one? By the time you transform into the lead you're already at a disadvantage, since they would've either set Stealth Rock up or killed your Ditto. Also, if you switch out you don't remain as the Pokemon you Transformed into, so there's no way you're bringing it in on a Flygon's Earthquake and Outraging it to death, since you'll be spending a turn Transforming into it, and you'll need to take the Earthquake to begin with, which it can't do with its all 48 HP and Defenses.
In short, don't use Ditto. It's the most predictable Pokemon ever and only costs you valuable turns.

Hmm...well do you have a suggestion for a good suicide lead? I just thought it'd be interesting to use Ditto but I guess it does waste a turn...

 

[bartozio]

well, I like infernape, cause he can kill most others while still putting up his stealt rock. Of course, there are a lot of options, from fast anti leads (like ape and aerodactl) to slower exploders (like metagross or the faster azelf).
For sets, just look at the smogon strategy dex, as most good sets will be listed there.
you might want to have a good spinner as well, as houndoom would otherwise lose 25% of his healt. Some good examples are starmie, tentacruel, claydol or fortress.

 

[bartozio]

Some good suicide leads are infernape, aerodactyl, azelf and metagross.
Ape and aerodactyl are more anti leads, and metagross and azelf normally go with explosion, though azelf can also use u-turn.
I also think it would be a good idea to use a spinner, as houndoom takes 25% damage from stealt rock, and might need that healt for taking a hit to nasty plot up, or simply for recoil from life orb. Some good spinners are starmie, tentacruel, fortress and claydol.

 

[Aiklap]

Swampert also deserves a mention, it beats most of the more common leads (infernape, metagross, aerodactyl) and gets SR up well. Also, Bartozio is right^^ -you do need a spinner on a team like this.

 

[Ironmike]

Just a thought, but if you want a transforming lead, might you be better off with smeargle? He has slightly higher hp than ditto, is alot more versatile, and doesn't give your opening gambit away merely by being sent out. I remember I got my ass kicked once by a guy using a spore/transform smeargle.