Dark Bird
Pokemon Showdown! Username:Daler's Return
Dark Horse Pokemon: Mandibuzz and Abomasnow, (also Kyurem but Trop already used him)
Hall of Fame Standing: Silver, I had a W/L of 45-10.
Screenshot of Top 100 Ladder Ranking:
Dark Horse Pokemon Complete Set:
MEHNDIbuzz (Mandibuzz) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird
People underestimate this birds godly bulk. The first 2 moveslots are required. The third can possibly be replaced with toxic but you'll need whirlwind for sub/CM Jirachi and some other boosters. In the 4th slot I think my favorite choice is Knock Off, but it's a bit gimmicky and it backfires hard if I hit a Terrakion switching in. I've tried Foul Play and U-turn in that slots but Brave Bird is usually the best option since it actually does some damage. I love that Genesect can only do around 35% with +1 u-turn or unboosted ice beam.
Frosty (Abomasnow) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Leech Seed
- Ice Shard
- Protect
I didn't feel speed EVs were needed since I'm usually stalling with protect or revenging with ice shard. Leech seed is important for hitting scizor/genesect when it comes in, since I can then protect on their u-turn for a total of 50% of their HP gone (2*hail+2*leech seed+stealth rock). I'm such a scrub that I'll use protect twice in a row at times and it's won me games lol
Questions:
How did you choose your Dark Horse Pokemon for this project? What lead you to choose the Pokemon you did? Did you have regrets or were you happy with your selection?
I used a team similar to the one I used in the outsider's challenge II, except that I used Heatran (who was banned by the outsider's rules). Mandibuzz is a favorite underdog of mine and she's a pretty awesome special wall. Hail is probably my favorite weather and Abomasnow deals with Politoed well. Hail is also Mandibuzz's best niche in OU since Overcoat protects her from hail.
How did you go about building a team for your Dark Horse Pokemon? Which kinds of teammates did you consider? What factors contributed to the team you created?
I used a team I had laddered with before. I used Sub/Roost Kyurem, a pretty amazing pokemon on its own, and hail support allows it to use Blizzard over Ice Beam. I also used Heatran and Tentacruel, who are pretty standard on defensive Hail teams as they help win the weather war against sun and rain teams. The final member was Skarmory since I needed a defensive wall and spikes support helps a lot.
Do you think it is more difficult or less difficult to ladder with a Dark Horse Pokemon? Why? Does the element of surprise play a factor in your battles? Is it easier to fight with a "highly used"" team or with Pokemon that are less common?
It's a bit difficult to ladder with some Dark Horses (or Dark Birds) like Mandibuzz. Below 5% usage seems a bit high for what I'd call a Dark Horse, since it's not like all the pokemon below 5% are bad (celebi, Deo-d, azelf, suicune). Of course there are some pokemon who simply shouldn't be used in OU. I think the difference between a Dark Horse like Mandibuzz or Hippowdon is that, in order for them to be effective, they need to be on a team with synergy that is well-built to support them, where as more common things, like Scizor and Terrakion can be thrown on almost any team as they are played rather simply (spam high-power attacks).
The element of surprise is pretty damn important for Mandibuzz's effectiveness, and to an extent for Kyurem and Abomasnow. A lot of times I'd have opponents bring in ferrothorn not realizing Mandibuzz can simply taunt it. Some opponents will underestimate Mandibuzz's bulk and attack with non-STAB Ice Beams only to have it do like 25% damage.
(For Hall of Fame members only) How did you reach the Hall of Fame? Was it easy or difficult? Did having a Dark Horse Pokemon on your team benefit you? What advice would you give to those laddering with Dark Horse Pokemon?
I tended to make small changes my team a lot when laddering. I hardly went 3 games without changing one of Mandibuzz's moves. I even used heatproof Bronzong over Heatran sometimes and I changed Kyurem's EVs to outspeed standard Haxorus at one point, although I changed it back since the decrease in power cost me a match.
Advice I'd give to other's laddering with a Dark Horse is to be sure your team has decent synergy with it and isn't something like
Tyranitar/Landorus/Terrakion/Scizor/Rotom-W/Dark Horse (Stereotypical BW1 Offensive Sand team)