Swampert and his Crew(First RMT)

[Lugiarocker]

HI! My name is Lugiarocker, and this is my first team post on the forums, so you will have to excuse me if its a little bit sloppy, both in terms of language and in terms of content. I have done a lot of teambuilding and have played a lot of competitive battling. However, I’m pretty new to the UU tier, but I have always loved Swampert and when I saw that he was in the UU tier which made me want to build a team around him. So without further ado, here is my team.


Nidoking (M) Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Wave
- Flamethrower

Nidoking is one of my special sweepers. That also takes care of some common walls for example Florges and Gligar. Also with that Sheer force he does enormous damage to a lot threats in UU. And he also resists Bug-type that’s 4x effective against Celebi.

*Calculations*

(252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Florges: 211-250 (58.6 - 69.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery)

(252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Gligar: 468-556 (140.1 - 166.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO)


Houndoom @ Houndoominite
Ability: Flash Fire/Solar Power
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Sunny Day
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse

I have always been a fan of Mega-Houndoom, but I have not been able to get him to do so much work because his very frail and if you don’t have him with Solar Beam you basically get walled by Quagsire’s and Gastrodon’s and also Swampert’s. However Mega Houndoom gets insane Sp.Atk, with max evs in Sp.Atk he has the high 624 Sp.Atk in the sun.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SDef / 20 Spd
Calm Nature
- Perish Song
- Recover
- Thunder Wave
- Giga Drain

I really like Celebi because it has Perish song that in a way counters the Calm Mind Suicune that is pretty common in UU. And with high Sp.Def it is a great special wall that also gets recovery. It also has thunder wave to cut a pokemon’s speed and to cripple. This is a move that I question a bit as I’m not really sure if he needs, as most of my sweepers/attakers are pretty fast.

Hitmontop (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Stone Edge

Hitmontop’s main job in this team is to be a rapid spinner, but he is also a little bit of a revenge killer with priority Mach Punch. He also has Intimidate which makes him a great physical wall/help Pokémon. I have Stone Edge for coverage. I know that rapid spin gets walled by ghost-types but I feel that it’s pretty easy to predict that someone will go to a ghost type which can allow me to double switch into for example Houndoom.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Roar

Swampert, is my main physical wall that also gets access to Stealth Rocks. He also has the great defensive typing Water, Ground. I chose scald instead of waterfall because the 30% chance to burn. Earthquake was relatively obvious pick because it’s his strongest STAB move. Roar allows for defensive plays such as forced switch and predicted switch. The only thing I wish Swampert has is recovery, which makes me question his effectiveness.

Victini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- U-turn
- Bolt Strike
- Zen Headbutt

Victini’s main purpose is to act as a Hit and run/Revenge killer Pokémon with a big coverage. With the enormously powerful STAB move V-create, and U-turn’s for switch initiative while Bolt Strike, and Zen Headbutt give coverage. But the bad thing with Victini and Houndoom is that they both take 25% from Stealth Rocks. I feel they both cover a lot, so that’s for example one thing that I would want to know if it is necessary to change of them or not.


All help is greatly appreciated and thank you for your time! If I have made any mistakes in terms of how to format these posts, please inform me of this and I will fix it for next time.

 

[Mudkip727]

I love Swampert (if u cannot tell by my profile image). I suggest that u change hitmontop into say, (since u don't appreciate a defogger) mega blastoise (you have enough electric resistances/ immunity on your team), fortress, starmie, Tenta, Donphan or a magic bouncer like mega absol. I also feel that victini is sorta outclassed by Darmanitian (though u don't get walled by suicune). Other than that (and the Rock/Ground weakness) it's a good team.

 

[Ununhexium]

Swampert is the cooelst pokemon eva so you're already cool.

Personally I like king more but I recommend offensive nidoqueen. Your team seems a lot more bulk based so nidoqueen fits the bill nicely. Also, it can work as a secondary stealth rock setter (but who needs that because swampert is epic) or it can stack toxic spikes.

Maybe you could replace celebi with LIFO orb galvantula. Most of your team really appreciates sticky web as they can out speed more pokemon which let's them do more damage overall. Of course, in this case I would use band victkni over scarf so anything is nuked harder.

On hitmontop, I would run sucker punch over mach punch and toxic over stone edge. Unless is the case where you run tspikes on nidoqueen.

Sorry for any weird errors I'm posting from a phone (dammit autocorrect)

Hope I helped!!!

 

[Lugiarocker]

First and foremost I have to thank you a ton for replying, and your profile pic is very aweome I must say.

I took your advice and changed a little bit in the team i feel that I now have it working very nicely.

I changed the Nidoking for the powerful attacker and quite bulky Nidoqueen due to that my team needed that little added bulk.

I replaced Mega-Houndoom with a defensive Mega-Blastoise with Rapid spin, due to that mega Houndoom is very frail and easily gets walled by the common wall Florges and i also changed Houndoom for Blastoise because i felt that Mega-Blastoise has very use of the sticky web that i use for my team and also i felt that the Hitmontop did not do so much work except for rapid spin.

I replaced Celebi for the life orb Galvantula with the sticky web that, as you wrote, combines really nicely with my team. I noticed that Galvantula's energy ball take cares of relatively common threats like Swampert,Quagsire and Gastrodon, and his Compound Eyes and Thunder combo does enormous amounts of damage.

Then i felt that my team needed a dark type doe to Nidoqueen poision, etc. I also needed some Special bulk, so i replaced Hitmontop with a Shed Skin, Rest and Bulk up Scarfty/Callum, because i felt that this team needed also a setup sweeper just like shed skin Scarfty.

Of course you cant change the all mighty Swampert so he is exactly as he was before.

Then i change the Item on Victini to a Choice Band because of the sticky web that makes him outspeed most things and it makes a much greater offensive threat.

Once again, thanks for your advice! What are your thoughts on my changes?

 

[Ununhexium]

I like the idea of changing scrafty in for hitmontop. Just curious, what dark STAB do you use on it? Knock off has a bit more power but crunch is more consistent. Also, remember that you need nidoqueen to clear fairies for scrafty or he is screwed.

 

[Lugiarocker]

My set is:
Callum (Scrafty) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shed Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up
- Rest
I think that knocking off an opponent's item can some times be crucial and it also has, as you wrote, a bit more power. What is your personal preferece?

 

[Shimomeikato]

For the Scrafty Set you can also run it with Assault Vest. Though not giving the Bulk-up set up but you can raise your attack with PuP.

Scrafty @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate/Shed Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant/Impish Nature
~ Drain Punch
~ Power-up Punch
~ Fire Punch/Ice Punch/Thunder Punch/Stone Edge/Fake Out
~ Knock Off

 

[Lugiarocker]

I tried this set/team on showdown and it works extremely well, the Assault Vest Scrafty works so well, after trying the set i fell that Ice Punch is the best move and coverage for my team, due to that i need something to take care of for example Gligar and Dragons.
Once again, thank you all for all the help with the team!