[Electrolyte]

Pokemon Showdown! Username: ElectrolyteDH
Dark Horse Pokemon: Cobalion
Screenshot of Top 100 Ladder Ranking:

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Dark Horse Pokemon Complete Set:
Cobalion @ Expert Belt
Naive nature, 28 Atk / 228 SpA / 252 Spe
Close Combat / Volt Switch / Taunt / Hidden Power Ice


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?
The team I used was co-created by myself and NixHex- who originally introduced me to Cobalion. I saw the tremendous amount of potential in Cobalion with its high speed, great defense, and workable offensive stats as well as its wide movepool. Its fast Taunt bought me the moment I saw it. I am really happy with this decision- and as you can see from my avatar, Cobalion has become my favorite pokemon- because it's just so useful, flexible, and unpredictable.

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?
As I said earlier, NixHex and I created the team together- and I tested it and refurnished it. I saw that Cobalion was great at dealing with physical dragons- as neither of them can OHKO Cobalion without a boost with Outrage and Dragonite can not even 2HKO with Outrage at +1. In return, Cobalion's HP Ice was an OHKO to all three of them (Dragonite when Multiscale is broken) Those three dragons were major checks to another Dragon- and one of my favorites- Latias. A team was quickly built around the two, featuring SubCM Jirachi and Technician Breloom. We used Cobalion as a quick pivot and an answer to stall because of his fast taunt- and Latias was given Specs to surprised opponents and give us a lot of momentum as well as immediate firepower. Politoed was placed in there as a mixed wall, and also so Latias and Jirachi could fire Thunders without worrying about missing. Jirachi also got its Water Pulse boosted, which helped while it sweeped.

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?
I think it really depends on what pokemon you use. If you're saying that you're going to ladder with a Pikachu and you're going to get to the top 100, I'm going to wonder how you got out of the mental hospital, because everybody knows that even though Ash's Pikachu is lvl 1000 Pikachu still sucks. However, if you're laddering with a decent pokemon that just doesn't recieve much usage, then I think that it's not hard at all. BW2 has brought forth a plethora of new, powerful pokemon, leaving some others that are still functionable in the dust and forgotten. Just because it's not used that much doesn't mean it's bad- it just means that people haven't looked into it yet (unless it's Pikachu. Or Charizard.) Whether it's easier to battle with more common pokemon, I can not say, because it really depends on what your team is. If you've built an extremely solid team that REQUIRES the slot of maybe let's say a Flygon, yet you put in a Forretress instead because Flygon is in UU, then of course your team will not function as well as if you put a Flygon in there. It really depends on what your team needs handled- and if your team needs you to handle a pokemon that only a UU poke can counter, than god forbid use that UU pokemon.
Surprise also does fall into play here- you have no idea how many people have switched Gliscor into Cobalion's Close Combat just to be OHKO'd by HP Ice. Or intimidating Gyarados's just to be OHKO'd by Volt Switch. Or Blisseys that switch into an HP Ice just to be OHKO'd by Close Combat. People don't know how Cobalion works- nor do they know it's sets- so it's often pretty hard to find a counter to it right off the bat.

(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 really don't know why, but I found it extremely easy to ladder up as high as I did. I even topped 2200, but my provisional was too high for me to show up on the ladder. I think it's because of the new ranking system of PS!, but I can't be sure.
As for strategy wise, I think that the best advice would be to cover your weaknesses. If your Dark Horse pokemon turns out not as good as you thought it would be, then give it a role it can do well, and make the rest of your team handle everything else. For example, Cobalion was a sucker to Special moves- nearly anything special could OHKO it- so I handled that problem by adding two of the most specially defensive pokemon in the metagame- Latias and Jirachi. Cobalion was also a bit weak against defensive threats- so I added Breloom for extra firepower and the ability to cripple slower walls. Cobalion also had trouble dealing with boosted pokemon, so I added in Politoed to lock set ups and Landorus-T to Intimidate them into unboosted oblivion. Your team isn't just about your Dark Horse- even though that is what this project is about. Every pokemon and team has a weakness- and what matters is how you deal with it.
As for laddering, I'd just say take it easy. There were times where I'd battle maybe 10 times a day, trying to raise my ranking, but it never helped. I'd get drained, frustrated, and my battling would get worse. It really isn't the end of the world if you don't get into the hall of fame- not everyone can get in. Just have fun, take it easy, don't stress, and even if you don't achieve gold status you still could have said that it was an enjoyable experience.