"Welcome to DIE!" (Bigelow's OU RMT)

[Bigelow]

Well, this is my first post on Smogon. I'm not new to the Pokemon metagame at all - in fact, I'm quite experienced. I just never felt the need to use these forums until now. I think the team is pretty well-rounded and I'd like to know your opinions.

Team Building

I started out with Life Orb Azelf. Ever since seeing Wilechase use it, I've fallen in love with the set. The moveset was Stealth Rocks, U-turn, Fire Blast, and Psychic. It worked very well as a lead, and almost always set up rocks for the rest of my team.

Cress is one bulky mofo. I never liked Cress until 5th gen came out, when I started to use it on one of my teams. It holds a firm place on my team, walling physical attacks to no end. If it's threatened (yeah right) by any special attacks, it can set up light screens. Cress is definitely a staple of this team.

Porygon-Z. Far and away my favorite competitive pokemon. This thing is a monster. It's choice scarfed as a revenge killer, and had boltbeam coverage with tri attack and download. I started out with hidden power fighting, but later switched to trick to cripple any Blissey that wanted to stick her fat in PZ's face. I never found myself using HP Fighting anyway. Dark Pulse is a good replacement for Trick but I've still found Trick to be more useful. However, my team needs some physical prowess to complement PZ.

God, this is starting to look like a Sinnoh region team. Anyways, Choice Band Infernape. What a beast. I run Mach Punch over Stone Edge though, for priority. Choice Band Flare Blitz will OHKO tons of Pokemon (Including Skarmory) and Close Combat has great coverage with it. Mach Punch for priority and U-turn for scouting, banded Ape is one of my favorite pokemon to use.

Substitute + 3 Attacks gengar is also one of my favorite sets. Come in on predicted fighting moves to the Porygon-Z, and Sub as they switch. If they don't switch, then I'll be able to scout their moves with Sub and respond accordingly. Focus Blast provides nice coverage with Shadow Ball, and I run HP Ice over HP Fire because it hits more pokemon super effectively, and people rarely expect it. I've killed so many gliscors with this Gengar on PO it's almost funny. However, I now have three Pokemon weak to both Dark and Ghost. I could use some special bulk, since Cress is mainly physically bulky.

So, I added Dragonite. This Dragonite is a specially bulky set with Ddance, Dclaw, Roost, and Heal Bell. Why heal bell? Mainly because if Cress gets toxiced, it's not the end of the world. If any of my strong attackers get paralyzed, I can fix it. This was my team for a long time, and it worked really well. However, the 3 Pokemon weak to Ghost and Dark really started to add up. I love Azelf and Cress just too much - I loved using Gengar too, but it was time to go.

Say hello to Machamp! This guy works just like Gengar - force switches, sub, use either DynamicPunch, Payback, or Stone Edge depending on what switches in. It's also somewhat bulky, as running max speed on Machamp is kinda fruitless. Also, he fills up the physical gap that was created by having 3 special attackers and Infernape being the only solid physical. I'm not worried about the dual psychic weakness of Infernape and Machamp, because Cress and D-nite are there to soak up hits.

This team worked great for me and I used it happily. However, after a while I noticed that Dragonite was kind of lacking. He very rarely pulled off a kill - ocasionally he heal belled helping out but the bulky dragon dance set with heal bell just didn't have exactly what I wanted on the team. Then, my friend (shukle4ubers on smogon) showed me a Jirachi lead set - Trick, Iron Head, Ice Punch, and Stealth Rock with Choice Scarf. I put this Jirachi in the lead spot, and replaced Azelf's Stealth Rocks with Grass Knot, and changed Fire Blast to flamethrower. That gave me a great Swampert counter and something to hit Ttar hard with not named U-turn. Also, I realized that having 3 choice items was not too great, so I changed Infernape's Choice Band to a Life Orb and replaced Flare Blitz with Fire Blast, changing some of the EVs and turning it into Physically Based MixApe. Final lineup:

Mangini
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Iron Head
- Trick
- Stealth Rocks
- Fire Punch (changed from Ice Punch)
Role: Lead

I hate Jirachi. Really. But it's so great to use. The first four games I tried this lead, I got 3 ragequits and 1 victory. If it can't take down the opposing lead with Iron Head or Ice Punch, then it can cripple it with Trick. Scizor is an exception, but I very rarely see scizor leads. It can iron head Azelf, Aerodactyl, Machamp, Tyranitar and Smeargle, as well as many other common leads to death. It can cripple Swampert, Hippowdon, Forretress and Bronzong with Trick and then set up rocks on the switch. Ice punch is there for Dragonite, Roserade, and a few other leads weak to ice. Rachi also comes in help later in the game if to revenge kill things with iron head or trick a wall. Overall, a great pokemon to use. Edit: Changed ice punch to fire punch, mainly as something to help with Lucario, and the only thing Ice Punch was really good for was Dragonite, who I have no problem with anyway.

Lead Strategy

Azelf
2HKO with Iron Head.

Machamp
3HKO with Iron Head.

Aerodactyl
2HKO with Iron Head.

Metagross
Cripple it with Trick. Some Metagross will Earthquake first turn, but then they have to deal with a Scarfed lead Metagross.

Swampert
Cripple it with Trick.

Infernape
Iron Head it to death. It's a 3 or 4 hit KO, so sometimes it won't work out.

Heatran
Switch out into Cress, set up Calm Minds / HP Ground.

Jirachi
2HKO with Fire Punch.

Roserade
2HKO with Iron Head.

Hippowdon
Cripple it with Trick.

Starmie
3HKO with Iron Head.

Dragonite
Switch to Cresselia.

Gliscor
Cripple it with Trick.

Tyranitar
2HKO with Iron Head.

Skarmory
Cripple it with Trick.

Forretress
Cripple it with Trick.

Yanmega
2HKO With Fire Punch, as it can't kill me with a Bug Buzz or HP Ground. I'll still outspeed it after one speed boost.

Ambipom
2HKO with Iron Head after resisting the Fake Out.

As you can see, this lead Jirachi does very well against most leads. Although the 2HKOs and 3HKOs require a bit of hax, they usually work out.

Myung
Azelf @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP, 252 SpAtk, 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Psychic
- Flamethrower
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power Ground (changed from U-turn)
Role: Special Heavy Hitter

It seems like everybody looks at Azelf's movepool and immediately says "Taunt! Stealth Rock! U-turn! I'm gonna make a really unoriginal lead!" But I see Azelf just begging for a life orb set. Psychic will heavily dent any pokemon that doesn't resist it. At first I carried Fire Blast, but later switched it to Flamethrower because pretty much its only purpose was to OHKO Scizor, Forry, and Metagross. I naturally have horrible luck so I'd take accuracy over power on this set. Grass Knot will wreck Pert, do heavy damage to bulky waters, and hit Tyranitar, Hippowdon, etc. for lots of damage. U-turn is for scouting, because this Azelf forces quite a few switches after they see its movepool. Azelf also works well with Rachi, being able to soak up and ground type moves that would normally threaten Rachi. Edit: Switched out U-turn for Hidden Power Ground to hit Heatran hard.

LaBrie
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpDef
Nature: Bold
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power Ground (changed from Toxic)
- Moonlight
- Calm Mind (changed from Light Screen)
Role: Wall / Tank

This thing is a crazy wall. It has lived a +6 Infernape's Fire Punch, a +4 Outrage from some dragon (it was a while ago on PO) and will laugh off any physical attack. Moonlight is a great recovery move but unfortunately is hindered by sandstorm. It's alright though, my team can deal with sandstorm teams easily. Light Screen is to help it wall on the special side too, and help the rest of my team. I've found ice beam to be a better attacking move than psychic. Toxic is obvious, but still a great move on Cress. She has a hard time dealing with steel types, but the rest of my team doesn't. Edit: I reworked the moveset to carry Hidden Power Ground over toxic and Calm Mind over Light Screen. Not only does Calm Mind help nearly as much as light screen, it also boosts Cress's SpAtk to respectable amounts. Setting up is easy because of her bulk, and now Cress can completely check Heatran. Ice Beam and HP Ground has really great coverage too. If the opponent lets her set up too much, they'll find themselves being swept by a Cresselia. She also doesn't have too big of a problem with Steels any more. Toxic was nice to have but the new set is much better.

Rudess
Porygon-Z @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
EVs: 4 HP, 252 SpA, 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
- Tri-Attack
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
Role: Special Sweeper / Revenge Killer

Porygon-Z is my second favorite pokemon aesthetically (falling behind Haunter) and my favorite pokemon competitively. A choice scarf makes Porygon-Z fast enough to revenge +1 Gyarados, +1 Dragonite, non-scarf Flygon, and many, many more. After a special download boost, it reaches a massive 607 special attack. Combine that with an 80 base power STAB move, bolt beam coverage, and you're set to kill most of the metagame. Trick is there to cripple Blissey as it's a common switch in.

Petrucci
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk, 64 SpA, 194 Spe (Changed from 194 Atk and 252 Spe)
Nature: Naive
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Mach Punch
- U-turn
Role: Mixed Heavy Hitter / Scout / Priority Revenge

Infernape fills a ton of gaps in my team. It carries priority so pokemon such as Weavile and Tyranitar can't set up and get away with it. Close Combat always hits hard, and Fire Blast is enough to OHKO 252 SpDef / 252 HP Skarmory, even with no Stealth Rocks. U-turn is always nice as a scouting tool. It also has a nice resistance to fire which Rachi is weak to, and a resistance to dark which Azelf and Cress are weak to. Infernape works well with Azelf and Cress because those pokemon can soak up psychic or ground type moves that would threaten Infernape.

Portnoy
Machamp @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 128 HP, 252 Atk, 128 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Substitute
- DynamicPunch
- Payback
- Stone Edge
Role: Physical Heavy Hitter

Machamp, quite the interesting pokemon. It can force a ton of switches, set up subs, and proceed to smash opponents with DynamicPunches or a super effective move. Confusion is an added bonus that can definitely help in some situations, as my team is somewhat lacking in status support. Machamp also has some decent bulk and can wall off dark or ghost attacks that would otherwise threaten Azelf and Cresselia, who in turn can take psychic attacks aimed at Machamp. Not much else to say here, but he's a great member of my team and pretty much rounds it out.

So yeah! There's my team. The threat list is pretty small so far, but I'd like to know your opinion on threats, team synergy, holes in the team, etc. Sorry if I made any formatting mistakes or something like that, it IS my first post here.

Oh and if you get the theme of the nicknames without using google then you should give yourself a pat on the back.

Defensive Synergy

Jirachi - Walls off psychic attacks that would hit Infernape and Machamp hard. Soaks up Bullet Punches from Scizor that would threaten Azelf and Porygon-Z (and can hit back with a fire punch!) Gets neutral damage from ghost attacks that threaten Azelf and Cress, and can flinch-hax revenge kill.

Azelf - Walls off psychic attacks that would hit Infernape and Machamp hard, and fighting attacks that would hurt Porygon-Z. Levitate makes it dodge ground type attacks that would hurt Jirachi and Infernape.

Cresselia - Aside from completely walling everything ever, she walls off psychic attacks that would hurt Infernape and Machamp, fighting attacks that would hurt Porygon-Z, and ground type attacks that would hurt Jirachi and Infernape.

Porygon-Z - Takes no damage from ghost attacks that would hurt Azelf and Cresselia.

Infernape - Takes Dark type attacks that would hurt Azelf and Cresselia. It can also take a few bullet punches. Not too much else, but this isn't made for defense.
Machamp - Takes Dark type attacks that would hurt Azelf and Cresselia. Also has reasonable bulk in general.

Threat List

Heatran - It can force a lot of switches in my team if I haven't scouted for scarfs yet, letting it make substitutes. The only ground move I have is on Azelf, and if it's Scarfed I have to make the right prediction - is it going for Fire Blast or Earth Power? I only have one pokemon resistant to fire, Infernape, who is weak to ground. Heatran can cause quite a bit of trouble. Note: After changing Cress's and Azelf's set, Heatran is much less of a problem.
Lucario - After one Swords Dance, it can OHKO Infernape, Azelf, and Porygon-Z with extremespeed. It can outspeed and OHKO Machamp with Close Combat. I can't hurt it with Jirachi or Cress. This is definitely my team's biggest weakness. Note: After changing Ice Punch to Fire Punch and doing the HP Ground thing for Cress, Lucario is no longer a problem.

 

[Imanalt]

If you really want to sweep with azelf, i might suggest putting in Hidden Power Ground instead of U-Turn, as your current set gets horribly walled by heatran. This is just a matter of preference and the role you want it to fill though.

Also, since jirachi already tricks them one scarf, and trick from pory-z is fairly predictable, i might drop it for dark pulse or possibly hidden power ground (as this gets truly perfect coverage with boltbeam). If you predict a blissey coming in, just switch to Machamp and use it for a free sub.

Anyway, other than seeing a scarfed heatran weakness (it can deal with everything other than cresselia and machamp, but cresselia cant do anything to it except stall, so if champ is down it could give you troubles), it looks like a very nice team

 

[Bigelow]

Anyway, other than seeing a scarfed heatran weakness (it can deal with everything other than cresselia and machamp, but cresselia cant do anything to it except stall, so if champ is down it could give you troubles)

I agree with you completely, except for scarfed heatran is only a threat after Infernape is dead, because infernape can take a fire blast and kill with Close Combat. But I'll think about putting HP Ground on Azelf or P-Z.

I think I'll keep Trick on P-Z, because Chances are Jirachi is going to trick the opponent's lead, and not one of their walls.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Imanalt]

Scarfheatran with earth power can kill infernape though, and so could give problems if its vs your jirachi and you're predicting fire blast and switch to infernape.

Also, i wasnt expecting jirachi to give a wall its scarf, but if they know you know they have blissey (sorry about confusing wording), they might predict the trick from pory-z and switch to whatever jirachi gave its scarf to, but if you want, go ahead and keep trick, it takes a clever opponent to abuse this

 

[Bigelow]

Scarfheatran with earth power can kill infernape though, and so could give problems if its vs your jirachi and you're predicting fire blast and switch to infernape.

Also, i wasnt expecting jirachi to give a wall its scarf, but if they know you know they have blissey (sorry about confusing wording), they might predict the trick from pory-z and switch to whatever jirachi gave its scarf to, but if you want, go ahead and keep trick, it takes a clever opponent to abuse this

I added Heatran to the threats list and put HP Ground onto Azelf. I've been using the doubletrick method on Poke Lab and it's been working pretty well - they very rarely expect me to have more than one trickscarfer.

My team DOES still have a problem with Subtran and Lucario, though.

 

[Lazyboy]

Hey Bigelow, I really like this team. It seems to be able to deal with almost all of the threats in the metagame, apart from the aforementioned threats.

For starters, you could consider running fire punch over ice punch on your jirachi. The threats you mentioned that it dealt with were roserade (2hko'd by iron head), dragonite (cress is a safe switch, being able to survive a fire blast followed by a draco meteor) and gliscor (who wont appreciate a scarf anyway). This would help with your lucario weakness, as even without a scarf, jirachi would be able to outspeed lucario and KO it with fire punch, however doing this would further compund your heatran weakness, as it can now switch in and gain a flash fire boost, crippling your next switch in.

Also, to help with the heatran weakness, a bulky water type such as suicune could help. Suicune may not outspeed threats such as +1 gyara and +1 dragonite, but it has the bulky to survive their boosted assaults and KO with HP electric/ice beam respectively. It would also allow you to sweep teams if their special wall (Bliss, Lax) have been taken out or crippled with a choice scarf, which can be achieved by pretty much every other team member.

My only other slight gripe with the team is the threat of Gyarados, specifically defensive versions. Resttalk gyara has the bulk to switch into infernape for free, sponge its attacks and either phaze it or KO it with waterfall. The same can be said for Machamp (a -1 Stone Edge wont 2hko after SR, meaning even if it switches into stone edge, it can still phaze champ out) and jirachi (bar trick, but if its already tricked its scarf, its completely walled). As Gyarados is a common switch to threats such as infernape, I would maybe suggest using stone edge over either u-turn or mach punch. Personally, I would use it over U-turn. With infernape being weak to all forms of residual damage, and being equipped with a life orb, he won't be sticking round for long, so you want to do as much damage with him as quickly as possible, so u-turn can sometimes be counter-productive, although theres no underestimating the scouting information that u-turn provides, and with the possible changes to jirachi, lucario may not be a problem anyway.

Finally, not so much an opinion, but a question. Is there any specific reason you run max speed on infernape as opposed to the standard 192? is it just to tie with other infernapes running max speed?

Hope this helps, good luck with the team and keep up with the youtube vids, they're awesome!

 

[Bigelow]

For starters, you could consider running fire punch over ice punch on your jirachi. However doing this would further compund your heatran weakness, as it can now switch in and gain a flash fire boost, crippling your next switch in.

Good call! Not extremely worried about this - I'd probably have to fodder off one of my pokes, but then depending on the heatran's HP, I could revenge it with Mach Punch or Cress's HP Ground.

Also, to help with the heatran weakness, a bulky water type such as suicune could help. Suicune may not outspeed threats such as +1 gyara and +1 dragonite, but it has the bulky to survive their boosted assaults and KO with HP electric/ice beam respectively.

I dunno about it... The question is who to replace? Azelf, Rachi, PZ, and Cress are pretty much out of the question. They're my core. Rachi and Cress are obvious but Azelf and PZ are time and time again the MVPs of my team, Azelf dishing out super effective moves left and right, and PZ just being awesome. Infernape or Champ is a possibility, but I think that getting rid of one of those would make my team too specially oriented.

(Stuff about Gyarados)

You're forgetting someone important... PZ eats Gyarados for breakfast. However if PZ is taken out early (and I try to conserve PZ and only sac him if I know I won't need him) Gyara shouldn't be a problem. God it's hard to choose. Infernape forces a ton of switches and I just love U-turn. If Gyara wants to come in on Infernape, I can always just U-turn into PZ, either getting switch advantage if I used u-turn as scouting or getting the special download boost if it's bulky and switched in after I killed something.

Finally, not so much an opinion, but a question. Is there any specific reason you run max speed on infernape as opposed to the standard 192? is it just to tie with other infernapes running max speed? Hope this helps, good luck with the team and keep up with the youtube vids, they're awesome!

Outspeeding neutral base 120s and below. Some people run Modest starmie, and outspeeding modest gengar is helpful. Do you know the peaks of 192 speed Infernape? I haven't noticed the lack in attack power yet, but I might soon. Thanks for your support with the youtube stuff, it means a lot. Thanks for the help with the team too!

 

[Lazyboy]

well, I was thinking that suicune would replace PZ, seeing as it has virtually the same roles i.e checking gyara/dnite and sweeping. But who am i to force the point, pz does a good job at both, you just have to be careful, as hes hardly considered bulky, and even switching into an unboosted waterfall would probably put a decent dent in it. Another reason I suggested a bulky water is that scizor can be a problematic poke. This has been somewhat remedied by adding fire punch to jirachi, but at the moment if it manages to switch in safely to azelf (anything but flamethrower) PZ (pretty much anything, i dont think tbolt will 2hko) and cress (even at +1 ice beam probably wont hurt it too much). Whilst infernape/machamp/jirachi can force it out after the inevitable bullet punch (or in cress' case u-turn), only jirachi can do so reliably, with infernape and machamp taking approximately 40% each from a CB bullet punch.

If you're worries about making you're team too specially based, you could switch your machamp set to a resttalk version. Whilst the loss in type coverage is very noticable with only 2 moves, currently nothing particularly wants to switch into blisseys toxic (except jirachi, who hates thunder wave). By switching to resttalk, you essentially get a free switch against blissey, snorlax (not minding body slams paralysis) and can deal with some of the ghost types (gengar and rotom for cress, scarf rotom for azelf, both for PZ) more effectively as they will be unable to burn you/wear you down with repeated attacks

As for the infernape EVs, the only perks are maxing attack to do the most amount of damage to pokes switching in on resisted hits. Personally, I've never run into a modest gengar or starmie unless they're scarfed anyway, which makes it a moot point anyway.

Anyway, just my thoughts on the matter, once again hope they helped, and good luck with the team

 

[Bigelow]

Suicune stuff

Well I've been testing the team out and I don't think there's any way I'm ever getting rid of Porygon-Z. I wouldn't say Suicune and PZ have the same rolls, cause Suicune can't revenge kill things. Sure it can force out Dragonite and Gyarados, but not Zapdos (or Starmie to an extent.) I think I'll pass on Suicune. My team really doesn't have trouble with Heatran any more.

Scizor stuff

Scizor isn't a problem either. Since Cresselia has Hidden Power Ground, Scizor is basically set up fodder now. U-turn only does 50%, which I can Moonlight off right away, and Scizor has to switch itself out to do so much damage. Infernape can always force it to switch out, so I usually just switch in Nape if one of my pokes dies to Bullet Punch, and then U-turn to scout.

I'm really happy with the way this team has been going, I got a 27 win streak with it yesterday (which was only broken to massive crit hax) and this is quickly becoming my favorite 4th gen team to use.

 

[Bigelow]

Shameless self bump?

 

[2sly4u]

As noted above me, you have a huge Heatran weakness, but can't afford a true Bulky water because otherwise you're too specially oriented. I'd recommend a Gyarados over Machamp. Gyarados walls Heatran all day long, and still gives you a powerful physical threat. I'd run the standard BulkyDos. Good luck!

 

[ENZ0]

Hi Bigelow,

Cool team you got there; I like the unorthodox pokemon and sets you are running, but I feel that some randomness is also a part of it which makes you overlook some common threats. A key note is that you handle offense much better then stall, which I will try to balance out.

I'll list out your weaknesses, and build off them to try to make your team better. The offensive weaknesses I caught were the following: Scizor, Suicune, Flygon, Rotom, Starmie, Zapdos. Before I start making suggestion I want to let you know that they will simultaneously try to fix your problem with stall teams (hazard users setup on you quite easily). I noticed Machamp is the random tie on your team, so I'm going to suggest using a Tyranitar instead that will take care of Scizor, Rotom, Starmie, and Zapdos for you. The set is Tyranitar @ Babiri Berry | Lonely Nature | 252 HP / 164 Atk / 92 Spe | Stone Edge OR Crunch / Pursuit / Superpower / Fire Blast. This should also be a last minute check for Agility Metagross, but Fire Blast probably doesn't ko. It also bait Forretress and Skarmory to avoid being setup for balanced and stall team, which helps a lot imo. With Suicune and Flygon left I want to suggest using Zapdos over Jirachi. Zapdos @ Leftovers | Timid Nature | 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe | Substitute / Thunderbolt / Roost / Hidden Power Ice | should do the trick. Since there's no SRer atm I suggest you slap Stealth Rock on Tyranitar over the Pursuit I mentioned. I really wanted to change Cresselia for this set, but you seem to like Cresselia a lot so this was the second option. If Jirachi's usefulness is wanted again, I suggest you just switch out Cresselia for this Zapdos.

Now for the nitpicks, use Rest over Moonlight on Cresselia now that you have sandstorm on your team, and use a Timid Nature on Porygon-Z to check Jolly DD Dragonite and Gyarados. Now on a final note I would like you to test out Nasty Plot Azelf with Leftovers and NP Psychic Flamethrower Hidden Power Fighting or Ground; I feel it can really give you that push to wreck at any stage of battle.

Hope these suggestions help; good luck dude!