Gyarakou? What a Combo! [OU Weatherless]

[zzachattach9]

So this team was started because I was bored of running Hyper Offense, like I've been doing for a while, but there was one team member in that team that I just couldn't let go of. That pokemon was the infamous Moxiedos. So naturally, I decided to keep this pokemon and build a whole team around it. I made this team pretty quickly, but it's been pretty successful so far. However, I feel like there's need for improvement, so I'm coming to you guys. Enjoy!



Team at a glance:

Team Building Process:

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This team started out with a Pokemon that I was fascinated with back when I ran hyper offense. I wanted my team to be based around Gyarados with the Moxie ability.

In 4th generation, a classic combination was the Gyarados and Jolteon Combination. However, Jolteon seemed like old news, so I went with something else with a cool dream world ability: Raikou.

Now, to base a team around a Gyrados without having a counter to one of its biggest problems is not very smart. So, I decided to add a really good taunter to my team. What better taunter is there than one with automatic priority? That’s why my next selection was Sableye.

With all of the Sandstorm teams running around these days, I needed a counter for that pesky Excadrill that could tear my Gyarakou combo right apart. So, I had three options to remedy this. Either Reuniclus, which really doesn’t fit well with the overall high speed theme of my team, Gliscor, which really would serve no other purpose on the team, or Conkeldurr, which with its priority Mach Punch, would devastate an Excadrill before it even knows what hit it, so that was naturally my choice.

Now, this team seemed very offensive at this point, so I felt I needed a little bit of support. Stealth rocks are a must in today’s metagame with the newfound effect of sturdy and all of the sashed sweepers running around. So I chose Ferrothorn as my next member because that’s what Ferrothorn does best.

My final member actually wasn’t a hard choice for me at all. Mainly because I knew what this team needed, a revenge killer, and I knew a great Pokemon for the job because I use it on my Monotype team. Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce you to the revenge killer, Victini.

In Depth:

Sableye (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt
- Payback

Some call this thing unbeatable, and rightfully so. Taunt combined with Prankster devastates any wall that tries to stand in its way. Also, taunt keeps away those pesky stealth rocks that two of my team members, including my core, is weak to. Will-o-wisp is there so I can stall out HP and hinder any physical attacker that may try and threaten my team. The Recover and Will-o-wisp combo is Sableye’s ace in the hole, however, there is one or two annoyances out there to stand in its way, namely Reuniclus and Espeon. However, those two can easily be taken care of by Payback. The EV spread and nature are just for maximum bulk. I’m definitely considering changing the EV’s to a more specially bulky spread. Tell me what you think.

Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Ice Fang

Now for the core of the team. Moxiedos. This thing can rip through entire teams with just one Dragon Dance. The EV’s are set up so I can easily outspeed much of the metagame with a single Dragon Dance up. Usually, the opponent will switch in to a sweeper that could easily take out an unboosted Gyarados, but then I just kill them of after the switch, and then my Moxie rampage is on. I have three attacking moves on there, just for the massive type coverage. Ice Fang isn’t seen on too many Gyarados these days, but it’s definitely more common than in 4th gen, but it’s far more useful because dragons are making their comeback.

Raikou @ Choice Specs
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Shadow Ball

Raikou is the ideal partner of Gyarados with its new ability, Volt Absorb. Thunderbolt is there for when I really need to pack some power into a hit, and Volt switch is there for when I need to do some scouting or predicting. Hidden Power fire is there to take out grass types like Breloom and Whimsicott, but also to take on the ever so common Ferrothorn. Shadow Ball was my last choice, simply because of type coverage for things like Reuniclus and Gengar. The EV’s and item are just so I can pack the most power into any move I use.

Conkeldurr (M) @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
- Stone Edge
- Payback

Conkeldurr is the best solution I have for Excadrill, who carries super effective moves on both Pokemon in the combination. The Guts boosted Mach Punch absolutely annihilates this huge threat to my team. Drain punch give me some more HP from those opponents I know can KO me, and Stone Edge and Payback are for those psychic and flying types that rip Conkeldurr to shreds. The EV’s are to get the most longevity and power out of my Pokemon. However, I’m tempted to change this to an iron fist variant so I can increase the longevity even more.

Victini @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Fusion Bolt
- V-create
- Zen Headbutt
- U-turn

This is the revenge killer of my team. It’s by far the most useful Pokemon on the team when I need to get a really annoying wall out of the way. A banded V-create can 2KO a max HP, max defense, Jellicent, That’s what I call power. I have V-create and Zen Headbutt for powerful dual-STAB, U-turn for scouting and dark types that may threaten Victini, and Wild Charge is for the water types that think they can take me down. I didn’t entirely max out the attack stat, just because of the jump point, and it adds just a tad bit more resistance. Max speed was needed for a revenge killer, however.

Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball

I needed a bit of bulky support on my team and the all-important Stealth Rocks. Ferrothorn is famous for being able to take non-super effective hits, and that’s important for getting the Stealth Rocks up. I have the Sassy nature just so I can get more bulk, and lower my speed to add power to Gyro Ball. Protect and Leech Seed are there for the stalling aspect and to scout my opponent’s moves. I’m debating whether I should replace Leech Seed with Thunder Wave.



This team currently has me at 1289 ladder points, but I’ve been up as far as 1450 in 4th generation, so hopefully your suggestions will help me get back up there! Thanks for reading!


Final glance:

Importable:

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Sableye (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt
- Payback
Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Ice Fang
Raikou @ Choice Specs
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Shadow Ball
Conkeldurr (M) @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
- Stone Edge
- Payback
Victini @ Choice Band
Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Fusion Bolt
- V-create
- Zen Headbutt
- U-turn
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball

 

[zzachattach9]

Threat List:

Big threats are in red

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Offensive Threats
Azumarill - Sableye can burn it, Raikou and Victini have super effective moves.
Blaziken - Gyarados, Conkeldurr can mach punch, and Victini's got the zen headbutt.
Breloom - Sableye's got it on the switch in with the burn, otherwise, gyarados, raikou, and Victini have super effective moves. Ferrothorn would be sleep absorber if needed.
Cloyster - Raikou, conkeldurr, ferrothorn, and Victini
Conkeldurr - Sableye can stall it out, Victini's got super effective OHKO on it while resisting mach punch.
Deoxys - Sableye can payback, Raikou's got the STAB thunderbolt that OHKO's.
Dragonite - Gyarados makes quick work of it if I have rocks up,otherwise I can just burn it
Excadrill - Conkeldurr and sableye have got this one covered.
Gengar - Raikou, sableye, and ferrothron even ferrothorn can take it if it lacks hidden power fire
Gliscor - Gyarados and Victini are my only ways of dealing with this, and not very efficiently, so there's room for improvement here
Gyarados - Raikou and Victini are all over that. Also, I can once again burn it.
Haxorus - Gyarados and Sableye make quick work of it.
Heatran - Gyarados and Raikou take care of it pretty easily
Hydreigon - Conkeldurr, Sableye, and Gyarados have this thing pretty well covered.
Infernape - Gyarados, Raikou, and Victini
Jirachi - Raikou and Victini have the defensive and special attacker variants, and Sableye can burn the physical versions
Kingdra - Raikou deals with it well, ferrothorn walls it, and conkeldurr can come in if it's weak and mach punch away. I burn the physical versions
Landlos - Gyarados and Sableye work together to take this one
Latios - Gyarados and raikou
Lucario - Sableye, Victini, Conkeldurr, and Raikou
Ludicolo - Victini does a number to it, but otherwise, I could burn it and hope for the best. Might need a better plan for this one.
Machamp - Sableye and victini easy take this one
Metagross - Victini and Raikou
Ninetales - Victini kills it with sun boosted v-create, and Raikou's thunderbolt is close to OHKO without rocks
Politoed - Raikou and Victini have the non-scarfers, Conkeldurr could try to take the scarf version, but I need something better.
Reuniculus - Victini and Sableye
Rotom-W - Raikou, Victini, and ferrothorn.
Salamence - Gyarados, Sableye, and Raikou
Scizor - Raikou and Victini
Scrafty - Conkeldurr, Sableye, and victini
Starmie - Raikou has this for sure. might need something better.
Terrakion - Conkeldurr and Sableye. Gyarados too if it's not scarfed.
Thundurus - Raikou does a hefty chunk to it, and Victini can also take care of it pretty well.
Tornadus - Raikou, Gyarados, and Victini
Tyranitar - Conkeldurr and Sableye
Venusaur - Victini and Raikou.
Virizion - Victini has most versions, and sableye can burn the rare physical one.
Volcarona - Gyarados, Conkeldurr, and victini.

Defensive Threats
Blissey - Conkeldurr, Victini, ferrothorn, and Gyarados if he's got some boosts.
Chansey - Same as blissey
Deoxys-D - Victini and raikou do the damage, sableye makes attempts to stall useless
Deoxys-S - Same as deoxys-d
Dragonite - Burn, Gyarados has it pretty well handled, and Victini hits it hard with a banded zen headbutt
Espeon - Sableye and Victini beat this thing to a pulp
Ferrothorn - Raikou and Victini
Forretress - Same as ferrothorn
Gliscor - Same as offensive gliscor
Gyarados - Raikou and Victini. also a burn could help
Hippowdon - Sableye makes the thing useless, and gyarados and victini do nice damage to it
Jellicent - Taunt, Raikou, and Victini
Jirachi - Same as offensive Jirachi
Latias - Same as Latios
Mew - Victini, Raikou, and sableye can mess with the baton passers.
Politoed - Same as offensive politoed
Rotom-W - Same as offensive Rotom-W
Reuniclus - Same as offensive reuniclus
Skarmory - Raikou and victini
Slowbro - Raikou and victini, and sableye's taunt always helps
Starmie - Same as offensive Starmie
Swampert - Burn it, go to ferrothorn, and commence stalling
Tentacruel - Victini and Raikou
Tyranitar - Same as offensive Tyranitar
Vaporeon - Raikou, ferrothorn, Victini, and the taunt always helps
Whimsicott - Very annoying. I never know what to do with this thing.
Zapdos - Raikou and Victini

 

[LighTz911]

For you Gliscor troubles, Gyrados is a good enough counter, to be honest.

And Ferrothorn can handle both Ludicolo and Starmie effectively.

I'm not too sure if Victini is a good member of your team. Rain is quite common and it completely ruins it. But if you do keep it, you should Scarf it to handle Dragon Dancers and Scarf Politoed when weakened.

 

[Dragon-Shinobi]

Movie Victini's that have the move V-Create also get Fusion Bolt, which is a much better alternative to Wild Charge.

 

[zzachattach9]

Alright, the fusion bolt correction has been made, but I don't see how victini doesn't fit into the team. Your arguement is basically saying no one should use fire types. If you have a suggestion for a replacement pokemon, I'll gladly test it out though.

 

[zzachattach9]

bump. any other suggestions you guys can make?

 

[Milking the Tank]

Thundurus + Landourus + Beware of Landlos w/ Choice Scarf + Stone Edge. If that thing is able to outspeed your Gyarados when it is setting up, there is a chance that Landlos could OHKO you. Sableye is pretty nifty. It's similarly a combination of Jellicent and Kami Trio's/Whimsicott's Prankster.

 

[zzachattach9]

Yeah, I know what you mean. But if sableye's dead, I'm screwed with those two, so I really want to replace victini, but I'm kind of stumped as to what I should replace it with.

 

[CaseyL]

Deoxys-S might do the trick. With a Choice Scarf it outspeeds Excadrill in sand (=0), and you can always Trick it onto a wall.

 

[cartercr]

I would recommend a Choice Band on Conkeldurr, as it could be much more effective for stopping Excadrill. Also notable is just the sheer damage that a Choice Band boosted STAB Mach Punch. To give an equivalent, it hits for about as much damage as Scizor's Bullet Punch (without Technician.) Also, for Victini, I would use a Scarf Jirachi. Scarf Jirachi would take out Gliscor, as well as the Genies. I've found that Scarf Jirachi breaks through walls about as effectively as anything I've seen. You may need to do a fair amount of prediction, though, but with Team Preview, you shouldn't have a problem with that. Also the fact that you have a 20% chance to Burn, Paralyze, or Freeze the opponent is always nice, and the fact that you have a 60% chance to flinch the opponent is even better.

 

[GtM]

Wouldn't Foul Play be better than Payback on Sableye, since the opponent's attack stat is almost certainly higher than an uninvested base 75. This makes Sableye a more effective response to stuff like Haxorus and what not, who it can hit with an extremely powerful STAB move after Burning.

 

[Acatia]

A burnt Haxorus is nowhere close to life threatening to Sableye. Payback will always get the power boost against it too since there's no way Haxorus would be slower then Sableye when he's not doing his mischiefs (sub the very oddball Dragon Tail Haxorus)
Payback takes care of Espeon better since the OP seemed concerned about it.

 

[verbatim]

Revenge killers to replace Victini...hm....

While not exactly a revenge killer, choice scarf Haxrus may be worth a go,
Haxrus @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Dual Chop
- Earthquake
- Brick Break
Because of mold breaker, everything not named Skamory is hit neutral by outrage/earthquake. Haxrus's biggest addition to your team is being able to kill substitute Whimsicott with Dual Chop.

Also worth considering as a revenge killer,

Deoxys S @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 12 Atk/ 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -Special Defense)
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Superpower
Without a scarf it doesn't outspeed sand Exadrill, but it does outspeed scarf tyranitar, shell smash Cloyster after a single shell smash, Starmie, (personal experience) and from what I've heard, it also outspeeds most dragons after one dragon dance.

 

[goodfucker]

i'd suggest fire blast on gyarados, it's a nice baitkill for ferrothorn

 

[Jayde]

This is a solid team. However, I don't think you gave a very good reason for having Victini. Just "it's a revenge killer" and "it can 2HKO Jellicent" don't really cut it. Now, judging by the title, I see that you don't want to run weather, but I really think that a Scarf Politoed would help over Victini. It's a fantastic revenge killer with an amazing Hydro Pump, and it brings rain, which makes Gyarados's Waterfall a 180 BP move, lets Raikou abuse deadly 100% accurate Thunders, and makes Ferrothorn much harder to kill, while not hindering any of your other pokemon. Like I said before, you might not want to run weather, but I encourage you to give this a shot as I think it will really help your team.

 

[verbatim]

Deoxys-S might do the trick. With a Choice Scarf it outspeeds Excadrill in sand (=0), and you can always Trick it onto a wall.

I run life orb Deoxys s and I'd like to say that outspeeding Exadrill is a nonissue, mainly because you can't do anything to it either way.
Scarf Politoed seems like the best idea thats been presented in the place of Victini, though you may want to give life gambit Victini a look at. At max hp it hits 404 hp which, with a choice scarf, kills pretty much anything not named Blissey/Chansey if your at max health, and you always have v-create if your not.