Dual Fighting team That works but needs improvement

Hi guys, ITSU here and i have a team that works pretty well but could definately use improvement. I peaked somewhere around 1400 on smogon i dont remember the specifics but that is pretty good considering i only made one change to the team since i've made it. It revolves around an interesting core that my old tutor IFM gave me one day with a dual fighting type core of Choice Banded Terrakion and the standard Life Orb Mienshao. What is interesting about this dual fighting core is that they have the ability to take out both of their counters, Mienshao taking on gliscor with HP ice and Terrakion taking out Skarmory with that strong Close Combat. This leaves the way for a sweep or heavy damage from the other pokemon and it has worked many times in succession. My team is however pretty weak to sun; specifically chlorophyll sweepers, as well as a little rain weak; mainly tornadus, and stall weak so i would like some feedback. Here is my team. The nicknames are based on Disturbed songs btw.


Prayer (Mienshao) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Fake Out
- Hi Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Mienshao is such an underrated pokemon being able to be an amazing scouter with its strong priority fakeout and having such amazing coverage moves, as well as a strong base attack and special attack stat to boot! Mienshao is my usual lead to scout with Fake Out and U-turn to switch out against enemy pokemon that i do not have a good matchup against. Hi Jump Kick is my main move for dealing damage late game, and helps demolish the opponents team. Life Orbed Hi Jump Kick does about 50% to the standard skarmory set as well, so skarmory has a hard time walling it. Gliscor cannot wall it either due to Hidden Power ice being a OHKO nearly every time! The best part is Mienshao's ability in regenerator, allowing me to take some life orb damage and when i u-turn out i regain a third of my HP, allowing me to scout and deal more damage without taking much damage, if any at all in the early game. All in all mienshao is such an amazing pokemon and is the first of the two fighting pokemon in my offensive core.




Old Friend (Terrakion) @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor

Terrakion is just such a boss with it's amazing power, speed, and movepool. Slap on a choice band and you are 2HKOing everything that doesn't resist STAB Close Combat. My moveset is pretty self explanatory, providing the best coverage it can. Close Combat and Stone edge are the main moves because of their high base power and because of their STAB. X-Scissor and earthquake are mainly just fillers or if im sweeping, but Close Combat and Stone edge are my main moves. I decided to run a Jolly nature to outspeed base 100 speed pokemon such as celebi, jirachi, and salamence to name a few. He is the second pokemon in my fighting core and just demolishes everything that its hard to give an explanation!




Voices (Latios) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Trick

Oh no! Choice Scarf Latios! What a noob. Well not really. Choice Scarf Latios is such an underrated threat and is an amazing revenge killer because of it's almost unmatched speed in the OU metagame, only being outsped by pokemon such as Choice Scarf Tornadus or Starmie, which are both very uncommon. This set also catches many people off guard, OHKOing Starmie after rocks and outspeeding and KOing Choice Scarf terrakion with Surf after a few rocks switch ins. The set is the same as the standard Choice Specs or Expert Belt set, but with Choice Scarf i get to outspeed many threats that may sweep my team. What is good about the choice scarf is that i can also trick boosting pokemon that also get a speed boost that aren't expecting a trick, such as a volcarona at +1 not expecting to get outsped and KOing with a Bug Buzz for an example. The moveset is for the best coverage i can get with trick being there to cripple walls or set up sweepers. Draco Meteor and Surf are my main moves; Draco Meteor because of STAB and the 140 base power, and Surf for when i want to clean up or not want the Special Attack Drop. Hidden power fire is for annoying steel types such as Ferrothorn and Scizor. Choice Scarf Latios is really underrated and helps Mienshao and Terrakion get rid of scarfed pokemon or pokemon that would normally outspeed them.




GodOfTheMind (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Leaf Storm
- Recover

Celebi is here as the "glue" to my team, and is used in place of the Bronzong i had here a while ago. I decided to put Celebi in here since he can wall physical attacks just as well as Bronzong, while being able to recover off damage, scout the opponent's switches, having a strong STAB attack in Leaf Storm, check rain, set up rocks, etc. The list just goes on and on! The set is meant to check rain which my team has a little trouble with, specifically Jolteon since that used to sweep my entire team with specs Thunders. The set is kind of creative, mixing an offensive movepool with a support and scouting movepool and using a defensive EV spread and nature. It is very unique, but does it's job. It also handles Slowbro really well, which can potentially wall both of my fighting types. Celebi laughs at status because of it's amazing ability, natural cure, and can fight back with a STAB Super Effective Leaf Storm. Recover is there so i can heal off any damage that celebi takes to continue walling.




My Mistress (Jellicent) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 84 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt

Jellicent is another underrated pokemon and i dont know why it's not used as much. My friend That's my Latios gave me this set over the standard one on the smogon website, and it works really well! The moveset is the same, but more speed lets me outspeed more pokemon to taunt or Will-O-Wisp such as Tyranitar, and the Calm Nature lets me take special hits a little bit better as well. Scald is my only attacking move because of the STAB and the ability to burn my opponent which is always a plus. Will-O-Wisp is if i want a higher chance of a burn, specificlaly for pokemon like Tyranitar or when im predicting a switch into a physical attacker. Recover is to heal off damage i take, and Taunt is to shut down other walls from setting up hazards or status on me.




Asylum (Scizor) (F) @ Iron Plate
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Swords Dance
- Roost

Scizor is the last member of my team, and is amazing with this set. It bluffs the choice band set, and really works well, using Bullet Punch and U-turn to bluff the choice band set, but can last longer with Roost and pull of a late game sweep if i need him to with a Swords Dance. The EV spread and Ability is self explanatory for the standard scizor set and it really works wonders. Bullet Punch also helps for extra priority, and U-turn is amazing for scouting pokemon and hitting them hard. Adamant is for the strongest attack possible. The extra 8 speed is to outspeed other standard scizors. This guy really packs a punch and helps me get rid of many threats and act as a late game sweeper and another priority user which always helps on any team.

Please give a constructive rate.
 
Hi there,
This is a pretty good team! You should change Scizor's iron plate to expert belt because expert belt will increase the power on all of your super effective moves instead of just bullet punch.

I might do a more detailed rate later.
 
Umm Darkstomp, his main attacking move is in fact Bullet Punch (which has terrible typing in terms of what it can hit Super Effectively)... a constant free 20% is more than welcome plus it allows him to fake a Choice Band, which can be useful.


As for suggestions, your team looks quite solid at a glance:

- I personally like Quick Attack > EQ on a Banded Terra. However you do have Scizor on your Team so priority isn't the biggest deal for you.
 

BTzz

spams overhand rights
is a Contributor Alumnus
Hey, nice team! I've used that fighting combo a lot recently and I'm a huge fan of it. Something I used with the combo was a Trapper Scizor to eliminate Ghost-types with Pursuit, so Meinshao and Terrakion can spam their Fighting STAB. Trapper Sczior also has a much easier time with other Fighting resist, such as Lati@s. The 112 Attack EVs OHKO Latios with Pursuit after Stealth Rock damage and OHKO Gengar with Bullet Punch accounting Stealth Rock damage, Substitute, and two rounds of Leftovers. Now about your sun weakness, you could try a Specially Defensive Heatran over Jellient. Jellicent doesn't seem all that useful to this team, as Terrakion + Meinshao cam beat most stall teams. Heatran on the other hand, forms an amazing defensive core with Celebi, while also checking a ton of sun sweepers and still being able to burn stuff. Heatran also lures in Tyranitar, so you can double switch to your Fighters and smash something. The speed EVs on Heatran allow it to outrun most Gliscor and Scizor. Heatran leaves your team more susceptible to opposing Fighting-types, but at the same time it frees up a slot on Celebi since Heatran has Stealth Rock. I suggest using Psychic on Celebi to dispose of Fighting-types as Celebi is now your best switch into them.

Scizor | Technician | Life Orb
Adamant | 248 HP / 112 Atk / 148 SpD
Bullet Punch | Pursuit | U-turn | Roost

Heatran | Flash Fire | Leftovers
Calm | 248 HP / 100 SpD / 160 Spe
Stealth Rock | Lava Plume | Will-O-Wisp | Protect


Hope this helps!
 
Thanks for the rate guys!
I think that quick attack would be good over earthquake just because I never really use earthquake to begin with and the extra priority could also benefit me.

Also that scizor set looks interesting... I'll definstely give it a try.. As for Heatran, The set looks really cool as well and can definstely work at burning Pokemon while still being able to check Banded scizor. And psychic would be a must but I might end up adding some extra EVs to get off some extra damage but I'm on vacation and can't run Calcs on the main threat (terrakion/Conkeldurr)
 
Really cool team ITSU!

I don't know if this'll be that great, but I think a Choice Scarf Tyranitar might work nicely over Jellicent. I don't really know why you have a Jellicent in the first place as you aren't as Stall weak as you think you are (Terrakion and Mienshao gave me great pressure when you used a similar team against my semi-stall and Latios can screw around with Trick) and it actually ruins your momentum. Choice Scarf Tyranitar can relieve your Chlorophyll sweeper problem as well as surprise killing Tornadus and many other things. It also puts up sand which can be used to fight off sun and rain teams, which is very beneficial. Also, although not very important, the 50% Special Defense can be helpful in some cases such surviving some things you normally wouldn't have, most notably Gengar's Focus Blast. Sandstorm can also help you in OHKO or 2HKO defensive walls such as Slowbro and Tangrowth, as now you can take them down with greater odds.

Some small nitpicks here: you can try out Hidden Power Fire over Recover on Celebi for the obvious stuff, but Recover is also fine. I think it might be better for Scizor, though. Having those things or Ferrothorn / Skarmory coming in can be disastrous because they can U-turn for momentum, outright Pursuit you for the KO or set up Spikes, limiting many of your Pokemons' switching, respectively. The lack of recovery may hurt, but it isn't that bad. I personally don't really find too much opportunities to Recover and you shouldn't really leave Celebi into things that'll be fatal to it in the first place, anyway. Using it over U-turn is also a fine alternative. Another thing you can try out is Choice Specs or Life Orb + Recover Latios, if you choose to use Choice Scarf Tyranitar. This is because two Choice Scarfers is quite redundant and either sets can cause even greater pressure to your opponent.

Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit


Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Trick


I hope these suggestions helped, and good luck with your team!
 
Thanks for the rate. I'll definstely try out scare Tyranitar but with maybe fire punch over crunch or pursuit because of the scizor and Ferrothorn like you said; or maybe fire blast.
 
Thanks for the rate. I'll definstely try out scare Tyranitar but with maybe fire punch over crunch or pursuit because of the scizor and Ferrothorn like you said; or maybe fire blast.
If you do and want to use Fire Punch, you should probably use it over Superpower because it's just there for Heatrans and other Tyranitars, but Stone Edge does well in handling them. Pursuit and Crunch are, in my opinion, too important to be replaceable.
 
IFM always liked you more. >:(

your scarf Latios is your main answer to venusaur (nobody uses sawsbuck) in sun. You actually do outrun speed-neutral versions, but speed-boosting Venusaur does give your team some issues, hitting an impressive 568 in sun. Outspeeding is simply not practical, and a lot of mons can't use a neutral attack to KO it after rocks alone. Again, Latios's HP Fire is your best option against sun sweepers, getting the weather boost and super effectiveness for the same effective base damage as the Draco Meteor, without dealing with the backlash or miss chance.

As for building the team to compensate, perhaps moving a few EVs into special defense on Jellicent (or even using Rain Dance over Taunt, since you've got plenty of offensive pressure) turns the battle into a pseudo weather war that sun teams will scramble to focus on winning, sacrificing momentum to do so.
 
Hmm that sounds cool, but I think i am going to try scarf tar tommorow and see if I like it and if not I will definstely try out your Jellicent.
 

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