Smogon Community - View Single Post - The Dark Horse Project (HUGE Update Post #121)

Patolegend! · Feb 29th, 2012, 7:07:07 PM

Right, better late than never! As stated yesterday I finally reached top 80 with Nidoking. He really is an awesome 'mon, with surprising power, and not-too-bad speed. Nobody seemed to expect him, and with paralysis support he can tear apart teams that don't have any of the two blobs.

Pokemon Online Username: The King is back
Dark Horse Pokemon: Nidoking

And the proof:

...

Dark Horse Set:

...

The team is based upon, well... almost exactly the same as an early form of the community create a team from last month to be honest. Many of the elements were already in place before that, but it really helped me out with covering the necessary weaknesses I had.

...

Just to prove Nidoking's boss, and to remove any credibility that I might ever gain on this forum, I also got into the top 80 with a fun team that took advantage of this powerful mon's strongest points under another alt, plain simple Patolegend.

Picture proof:

...

And the team:

...

How did you choose your Dark Horse Pokemon for this project?
I've always loved Nidoking since the early generations, but with his new ability he finally found the opportunity to shine. Fantastic coverage, beastly power - and nobody was prepared for him.

How did you go about building a team for your Dark Horse Pokemon?
I started off with a HO specially based team, but found that the King was useless. I then started to look at his main weakness, his speed, and started to build a paralysis based team. Jirachi came in, then Rotom to cover the ground weakness. I started using the sub-roost set on Dragonite, but missed the power of full on DD and outrage. Gengar came in as a spin-blocker and troll mon, and finally Virizion helped to take on rain teams, the blobs and hydration vaporeon.

The baton pass part was basic - with +2 spa modest Nido OHKO's everything apart from the blobs. I was fascinated by the ridiculousness of Espeon with magic bounce and stored power, and it went from there. (No skill involved!

)

Do you think it is more difficult or less difficult to ladder with a Dark Horse Pokemon? Why?

I think it depends on the team, but probably yeah. With the paralysis team Nido didn't always have a major role in the team, but other games he would destroy whole teams. Other special attackers could have fit his role better, and probably without so much support.

(For Hall of Fame members only) How did you reach the Hall of Fame?
A lot of luck, basically.... towards the end it got easier, once I was adapted to the team and got to know its strengths. Aggresive predictions helped along the way, taking out prominent team members before they caused major problems. O yeah, and rotom... without him it wouldn't have been possible.

Feb 29th, 2012, 7:07:07 PM	#122
Patolegend! Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 23	Right, better late than never! As stated yesterday I finally reached top 80 with Nidoking. He really is an awesome 'mon, with surprising power, and not-too-bad speed. Nobody seemed to expect him, and with paralysis support he can tear apart teams that don't have any of the two blobs. Pokemon Online Username: The King is back Dark Horse Pokemon: Nidoking And the proof: ... Dark Horse Set: ... Nidoking @ Life Orb Trait: Sheer Force EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SpA / 4 HP Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Flamethrower - Earth Power - Ice Beam - Thunderbolt Standard set here, he just offers ridiculous super effective coverage and power. His downfalls are his bulk and speed, but with paralysis support one of these is not a problem. People underestimate his speed, with many a heatran and gliscor getting taken aback when they recieve a x4 move to the face. The team is based upon, well... almost exactly the same as an early form of the community create a team from last month to be honest. Many of the elements were already in place before that, but it really helped me out with covering the necessary weaknesses I had. ... Gengar (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Shadow Ball - Substitute - Pain Split - Focus Blast Not always the lead, but a very important offensive player in the team. This set is normally difficult to handle, but I found it was overly reliant on Focus Miss to beat mons such as Tyrannitar. I did try taking him out and putting Latias in as per other members suggestions, but put him back in shortly after. My main check to Deoxys D, Mew, and Reuniclus. Dragonite (M) @ Lum Berry Trait: Multiscale EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Dragon Dance - Outrage - Fire Punch - ExtremeSpeed Soooo much power. With Lum I could afford to risk a burn from rotom to get the DD in, then pretty much gg. One of the most popular mons in the metagame at the minute, which itself is a problem - everyone's prepared for it, and it rarely ransacked teams as I hoped it might. Still though, if you let it set up, it'll tear you apart - that outrage Jirachi @ Leftovers Trait: Serene Grace EVs: 252 HP / 240 SDef / 16 Spd Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Iron Head - Body Slam - Wish - Stealth Rock A mon I hated facing with other teams in the past - its just unfair. With a bit of luck, this is almost unstoppable, and saved me many a game. One of the two mons that provide the much needed paralysis for nidoking, the stealth rocker for the team, and the cleric. Virizion @ Lum Berry Trait: Justified EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Swords Dance - Leaf Blade - Close Combat - Stone Edge Possibly the weakest element of the team, but key resistances and the fact that everyone seems to think it's specially based led it to keeping its place. Lum helps against breloom and the blobs, but I did notice the drop in power over the life orb that I had beforehand. Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Sheer Force EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Earth Power - Thunderbolt - Ice Beam - Flamethrower The King.... the legend. Rotom-W @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SAtk Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Hydro Pump - Volt Switch - Thunder Wave - Pain Split The glue that held the team together. Paralysis, pain split, and massive defense let him paralyze major threats to the team for Nidoking to finish off. Just to prove Nidoking's boss, and to remove any credibility that I might ever gain on this forum, I also got into the top 80 with a fun team that took advantage of this powerful mon's strongest points under another alt, plain simple Patolegend. Picture proof: ... And the team: ... Ninjask (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Speed Boost EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef / 4 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Swords Dance - Baton Pass - Protect - Substitute Vaporeon (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Water Absorb EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Baton Pass - Substitute - Wish - Scald Scizor (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Technician EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Baton Pass - Iron Defense - Bullet Punch - Bug Bite Espeon (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Magic Bounce EVs: 248 HP / 36 SAtk / 224 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Calm Mind - Baton Pass - Stored Power - Hidden Power [Fighting] Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Sheer Force EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Earth Power - Ice Beam - Flamethrower - Thunderbolt Cloyster (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Skill Link EVs: 48 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 204 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Icicle Spear - Rock Blast - Razor Shell - Shell Smash Hell yeah, a BATON PASS TEAM, without smeargle or smash pass. Cloyster's a boss - with +4 attack he OHKO's everything. Noobish, unskilled, this team has caused many a ragequit, and yet has been pretty successful. How did you choose your Dark Horse Pokemon for this project? I've always loved Nidoking since the early generations, but with his new ability he finally found the opportunity to shine. Fantastic coverage, beastly power - and nobody was prepared for him. How did you go about building a team for your Dark Horse Pokemon? I started off with a HO specially based team, but found that the King was useless. I then started to look at his main weakness, his speed, and started to build a paralysis based team. Jirachi came in, then Rotom to cover the ground weakness. I started using the sub-roost set on Dragonite, but missed the power of full on DD and outrage. Gengar came in as a spin-blocker and troll mon, and finally Virizion helped to take on rain teams, the blobs and hydration vaporeon. The baton pass part was basic - with +2 spa modest Nido OHKO's everything apart from the blobs. I was fascinated by the ridiculousness of Espeon with magic bounce and stored power, and it went from there. (No skill involved! ) Do you think it is more difficult or less difficult to ladder with a Dark Horse Pokemon? Why? I think it depends on the team, but probably yeah. With the paralysis team Nido didn't always have a major role in the team, but other games he would destroy whole teams. Other special attackers could have fit his role better, and probably without so much support. (For Hall of Fame members only) How did you reach the Hall of Fame? A lot of luck, basically.... towards the end it got easier, once I was adapted to the team and got to know its strengths. Aggresive predictions helped along the way, taking out prominent team members before they caused major problems. O yeah, and rotom... without him it wouldn't have been possible.