A brief introduction to the team:
Now that it has passed time since the 5th generation started and that the metagame evolved, we can take a look back and see what has changed and what remains the same. Much of the basics remain the same while pokemon like Garchomp (a beast in SS teams, a good choice for the rest of the teams) emerged as a threat and became banned. The crescent appearance of weather teams following the same patterns and member choices made me want to do something different. Let’s not forget what’s pokemon about: it’s not only about winning, but also about strategy, combinations, ideas... fun. The team I am goinf to present you may not be the best. In fact, I warn you, thee reader, that you may be perplexed and, yes, maybe confused sometimes about the movesets or combinations I use. Do not hesitate to critize nor to ask, because critique is the best way to become better, to become a real pokemon master.
Before submerging into the depths of my team, let me explain that I didn’t want to make a weather team, mainly because of the fact that it’s huge popularity bored me. The team tries to stall a bit, while countering most of the major threats nowadays, as well as keeping a pace of game which lets my pokemon to set up with ease. A good defence, as it was told, is sometimes the best ofence, and through this “rate my team” you can see a good example of what this sentence means. A solid defence core, together with fast and powerful hitters, make the ingredients necessary to make a potentially good easy-to-use and, probably, succesful team.
But I won’t extend more. Let’s begin!
Shall we?
Team at a glance:
Let’s get into detail...
“Orgueil” the Archeops @
Ability: Defeatist
Adamant nature (+Atk, -Sp.Atk)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~ Head Smash
~ Acobatics
~ Earthquake
~ U-Turn
~ Acobatics
~ Earthquake
~ U-Turn
Probably one of my most succesful leads I’ve ever tried out as it almost always can take, at least, one of the other members team mates. His ability... well, sometimes it may seem a drawback and in some situations it actually is. What’s his problem, then? His lack of recovery, of course. Here I try to solve this situation and, with Alomomola’s Wish support, I can make his survavility easier. He will last, then, longer and hit harder. Recovery is so important especially because Head Smash’s recoil damage which, on many occasions, can take almost half of his HP on one turn.
Why did I choose him to be most of the times the lead? His speed is incredible and can outspeed most common leads and not leads. Notice the object he’s equiped with: Rock gem, instead of Flying gem. Adamant nature, combined with Head Smash and Rock gem, along with his super speed and being a STAB, will almost always mean a OHKO to the opposing pokemon. It doen’t really matter its type nor its stats because almost always the foe will be destroyed (statistics will be added later on). Because of the recoil damage, Wish support is needed, and that’s when Alomomola comes in.
Because Rock Gem is consumed this first turn, Acrobatis will double its power. Scizor and the likes of it will be defeated easier. But let’s not be cofused and don’t forget that Archeops is, in fact, frail. You have to be cautious which pokemon you want Archeops to face, as he hates priority moves as Bullet Punch.
Lastly, Earthquake adds nice coverage on the overall, as well as U-Turn, which allows me to deal some damage, although minimal, and switch pokemon while keeping the pace of the battle.
“Envie” the Rotom-C @
Ability: Levitate
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe
~ Trick
~ Volt Switch
~ Leaf Storm
~ Shadow Ball
~ Volt Switch
~ Leaf Storm
~ Shadow Ball
I wanted a grass type pokemon on my team because of the increasing use of Gastrodon and bulky waters like brother Rotom-W or Vaporeon. I first thought of Whimsicott, as it had Taunt, which my team could really benefit of because of the defensive trio (Blissey, Alomomola and Bronzong) I have. But then, I noticed I needed power, and Rotom-C came to mind. Rotom-C has an interesting typing and some nice stats, in my oppinion. It may not be the fastest pokemon out there, but he has some bulk and power, and it fit on the holes my team had at the moment while creating perfectly.
The set I chose for Rotom is a Trick variant. Trick is very practical on the current metagame, especially because of those nasty and annoying Eviolite Stone abusers. Yes, I’m talking of Chansey and Dusclops. I assure you that Dusclops with Eviolite Stone is almost impenetrable. Trick does the job! Once they get rid of Eviolite Stone, they’re easily defeatable. Also, it’s ncie to trap a pokemon into an attack it wouldn’t do much, or even nothing.
Leafstorm is Rotom’s STAB move, as well as letting me hit harder Gastrodon and bulky waters out there. The special attack power drop is compensated by the continuous switching this team does. This is done with Volt Switch. Note that all three sweepers on this team have a similar “switchin” move: Archeops and Infernape have U-Turn, Rotom has Volt Switch. This ensures me to keep my pace on the battle and to not give the opponent turns to set up when switching without any move.
Finally, the last move is Shadow Ball. I see it as a must because bulky psychics can really hurt me. I’m talking of Reuniclus. Reuniclus can be a bit of a challenge and, at the moment, the only solution I find is Shadow ball. I find it practical, at least.
“Courage” the Infernape @
Ability: Blaze
Jolly nature (+Spe, -Sp.Atk)
Evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~ Mach Punch
~ Close Combat
~ Flare Blitz
~ U-Turn
~ Close Combat
~ Flare Blitz
~ U-Turn
Infernape completes the sweepers on my team. As someone pointed out when I first presented the Blissey-Alomomola-Bronzong combo on another threat, a Curselax could have it realtively easy to defeat it. Infernape is here to deal with that. Not only is he fast, but also effective. He has a valuable possession, and that is a priority move which is of great help during the match, especially when the time comes when the foe is really hurt and revenge killing is the way to win the match.
So along with Match Punch we have Close Combar and Flare Blitz. Note that Flare Blitz deals recoil damage and, as I explained on the Archeops description, that could be solved thanks to Alomomola’s Wish support, so Infernape doesn’t fear recoil damage at all.
Lastly, U-Turn adds an escape route to let my other pokemon participate in the battle. The set is self explanatory on itself, so there isn’t much to talk about it. Other options included Thunder Punch which, on my opinion, is a good move on Infernape, but I don’t really see it fiting in here. Bulky waters, and even if they’re not bulky, are dealt by Rotom.
“Âme” the Blissey @
Ability: Natural Cure
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Sp.Atk
~ Heal Bell
~ Softboiled
~ Flamethrower
~ Seismic Toss
~ Softboiled
~ Flamethrower
~ Seismic Toss
Blissey isn’t here because of her cute face. In fact, she’s a monster, but a defensive one. I was hesitating to use her, as I’m not really fond of using this type of pokemon, and even more since the infamous Skarmbliss combo, so common it became annoying. But she fits perfectly here on the team as one of the 3 members of my defensive core. I had another option to choose at, and that was Clefable. Although having less HP and a somewhat similar base stat distribution, I kept Blissey because of obvious reasons: she made the job better. She acts as the Special sponge of the trio and her role is to keep status changes away from my team, which can hurt them so bad.
As mentioned on the upper line, Heal Bell is the star move of this set and really necessary as paralysis, burn or toxic can deal serious damage to the team and its purposes. On the other hand, Softboiled ensures Blissey will last longer after receiving special damage. Those two moves, Heal Bell and Softboiled, make this pokemon into a real pain to defeat. If you add to these two Wish, then the opponent will become desperate and annoyed.
The other moves Blissey gets on this set are damaging moves. The fist one, Flamethrower is a necessity as she will have to face sometimes Ferrothorn, which could, otherwise in a lesser extent, threat this defensive trio. Seismic Toss, on the contrary, will wear down little by little to foes HP till the time comes to the other pokemon on my team to finish the job.
“Corpse” the Alomomola @
Ability: Regeneration
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Sp.Atk
~ Wish
~ Protect
~ Toxic
~ Scald
~ Protect
~ Toxic
~ Scald
The physical sponge of the trio as one of his goals is to serve as receiver of physical damage. His impressive defence stat combined with a good health and DW ability make me sometimes wonder why hasn’t this pokemon become more used. As many may imagine, Regeneration permits Alomomola to regenerate one third of its life when drawn out of battle. Let’s add Wish to this, the other purpose why I chose alomomola in the first place as the second member of this peculiar core, and we’ll have a real interesting wish supporter.
Wish is a nice incorporation into this team because some pokemon needed recovery, but weren’t able to get any recovery move. So here’s Alomomola! Wish and Protect work wonders as Toxic, the third slot move, will cripple the opponent slowly, forcing him to switch out his pokemon and allowing me to set up Wish to another of my pokemon. A little bit of stalling is fun and very effective, especially when there’s Toxic around.
The last move is Scald, and here’s the reason of using it. While i could have used a more powerful move as Surf or Waterfall, Scald has a 30% rate of burning the opponent which translates into a decrease of physical power on the opponents side and making Alomomola harder to defeat. And although Alomomola doesn’t get the burn on, it still makes some decent damage. Let’s not remember that his purpose is not to hit harder, but to pass on Wish and stall.
“Esprit” the Bronzong @
Ability: Levitate
Sassy nature (+Sp.Def, -Spe)
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Atk / 80 Def / 82 Sp. Def
~ Stealth Rock
~ Earthquake
~ Zen Headbutt
~ Hidden Power ( Ice )
~ Earthquake
~ Zen Headbutt
~ Hidden Power ( Ice )
At last, but not least, is the supporter of this defensive combination: Bronzong. Bronzong’s sole purpose on this team is to set up Stealth Rock and to support, as well as he can, the other core’s members with its attacks. Mostly, they are chosen based on coverage and threats, pokemon nor Blissey nor Alomomola could face and which could otherwise damage, and even defeat, them.
So it’s not rare to see on this set Zen Headbutt. Many may be questioning why did I put such a move in here, but the reason is to deal with Machamp and Conkeldurr. Even Terrakion too. Machamp can become a real problem if it’s one with Dynamic Punch and Thunder Punch, and Conkeldurr if it’s running Guts, which most of them are running now. Because of Guts, Toxic won’t work on him nor the possible Burn of Scald. While he sets Bulk Up, the only thing I could do would be to hope Alomomola can set up a Wish to heal Archeops. And even then, because of Archeops fragility, he fears Mach Punch. That’s the reason why Zen Headbutt is here. And it’s very reliable, yes it is.
The other moves, namely Earthquake and Hidden Power ( Ice ) allow me to hit almost every type in the current metagame. As I said numerable times, Bronzong tries to wear down a little the foe and, if he doesn’t defeat them, he can always rely on the sweepers of this team. It’s their job, of course!
Some last words:
You have now read my team and have an idea of what it does. You may have some positive aspects of it on your mind as well as some bad points. Let me know them, please. Constructive criticism is always good. But let me first add some ideas, if you mind. As you may have noticed, this team forces a lot of switchings between my team members. A rapid spinner would be a great asset on this team in my opinion, because then I wouldn’t fear Spikes or Stealth Rock anymore (although 2 of my pokemon have Levitate and escape Spikes). The other thought that came to me is, maybe, the necessity of a Taunter. This team relies on Wish and Heal Bell support. If the opponent uses Taut against me i would be screwed for some turns.
But then, these are just some minor thoughts. What I’m more interested in is in what you think. Together we may create a new concept in battling.
Let us make it possible today (:
***Threats***
As for now, I’m testing this team and don’t have a confirmed threat list prepared. If someone finds a threat this team struggles against, please, let me know.
