The Scorpion and Friends

Greetings! My name is Jarc, and this is my RU RMT. I arrived to the competitive pokemon scene not too long ago, and decided to give RU a try. Since it is one of my favorite pokemon and a resident of RU, I decided to base my team around SD Drapion. When team building was complete, I tried the team on PS and it was surprisingly good after I worked out some kinks. Now I ask you to review my team and see how I can make it better. So here it is:





Drapion
Item: Lum Berry
Ability: Sniper
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 4 hp/252 atk/252 spe
-Swords Dance
-Taunt
-Crunch
-Earthquake

This is the star of the show. Drapion is fantastic after a swords dance, easily sweeping teams while taking hits also thanks to its impressive natural bulk. Swords Dance's purpose is obvious, as drapion is rather weak without it and it allows it to punch holes in walls and murder everything else. Taunt is extremely useful, as Drapion is the only user of it in my team and it allows him to shut down opposing taunters, set up sweepers, and prevents hazards. Crunch is my main move, dealing awesome damage to anything that doesn't resist it after a boost. Last, but maybe not least, Earthquake is my coverage move, taking out steels that resist Crunch and other pokemon that are weak to ground. Lum Berry gives Drapion a little bit of insurance against burn and paralasis. Meanwhile, 252 speed EV's with a jolly nature allows it to outrun many threats like Nidoqueen, Rotom, and Moltres, and 252 att gives it a lot of bite.




Tangrowth
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
Nature: Modest
EV's: 112 hp/252 spa/144 spd
-Sleep Powder
-Leaf Storm
-Hidden Power Rock
-Focus Blast

The physical tank. Tangrowth takes physical attacks like few others can, thanks to gigantic base HP and defense, and dishes them out like a boss too. It slows Physical attackers like Kabutops, Crawdaunt, and Hitmonlee to a screeching halt, while hitting back hard. It also likes to put the opponents pokemon to a good night's sleep with Sleep Powder (when it doesn't miss...). Leaf Storm is a very powerful STAB move that KO's many things, and is useful for threatening stuff like Kabutops. Hidden Power Rock hits all of Tangrowth's weakness's bar Poison for SE damage, meaning they can't just waltz in on the vine monster. Finally, Focus Blast allows me to damage guys like Boufalount(did I spell that right?) harder than my other moves, unfortunantly it does have a 30% chance of missing though. Finally, the Modest nature and Life Orb along with full investment in special attack allow the vine monster to dish out hits like a boss, with Regenerator and 114 hp+144spd making Tangrowth very hard to take out.




Kabutops
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Weak Armor
Nature: Adamant
EV's: 4 hp/252 att/252 spe
-Waterfall
-Aqua Jet
-Stone Miss(edge)
-Rapid Spin

Kabutops, Drapion's partner in physical sweeping crime, and the second part of my F/W/G trio. Kabutops is my other sweeper and also acts as a spinner to get those cursed rocks and spikes out of the field. Waterfall is a powerfull STAB move that takes out the likes of fire, ground, and rock types, and doesn't miss. Aqua Jet brings very useful priority, and gets a STAB boost. Stone Miss(edge) brings a second STAB to the table and is powerful...when it hits. Rapid Spin is needed to remove those rocks and spikes that hinder it and its teammates. If this badboy gets hit by a physical hit, weak armor activates, allowing it to pull off a sweep. Life Orb and an Adamant nature, with 252 attack and speed allow Kabutops to hit as hard and fast as possible.





Entei
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Adamant
EV's: 4 hp/252 att/252 spe
-Flare Blitz
-ExtremeSpeed
-Stone Edge
-Will-O-Wisp/Toxic/Sleep Talk?

Entei, the volcano pokemon, is also the final part of my F/W/G core and brings immediate power to the table, along with more priority, with this set. With a choice band under its belt, Entei KO's most of the tier with it's holy nuke, Flare Blitz. ExtremeSpeed is very useful for nabbing those fast, but frail pokemon, or anything sufficiently weakened, thanks to its priority. Stone Edge is here for extra coverage. Due to comments, I'm not quite sure what to put in the last slot, whether it be Will-O-Wisp, Toxic, or Sleep Talk. Adamant is required due to the event for Flare Blitz and E-Speed, and 252 attack and speed allow it to hit, like Kabutops, as hard and fast as possible.



<---Ignore Pic
Uxie
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EV's: 252 hp/4 spa/252 spe
-Steath Rock
-Thunder Wave
-U-Turn
-Psychic

Uxie replaces Accelgor before it as my support lead. It is ridiculously bulky and checks Nidoqueen, who is arguably the biggest threat in RU ATM. Also Levitate allows it to aid my very ground-weak teamby switching into EQ's. Stealth Rock is awesome for making opposing Moltres and other SR weak poke's lives miserable. Thunder Wave aids against fast pokes' like sceptile and Accelgor. U-turn can scout for switches to make momentum in my favor, which is always a huge plus. Psychic ia my STAB attack, and murders the some pokes walled by Uxie, specifically Nidoqueen and Fighting types. 252 hp brings bulk to the table, allowing Uxie to take hits better, and 252 spe+Timid nature allows it to get SR up fast.


<---Ignore Pic

Primeape
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Vital Spirit
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 4 hp/252 att/252 spe
-U-Turn
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
-Ice Punch

This guy is the third to occupy this slot. He is my replacement revenge killer, and I came up with the idea to put him here. He scouts with U-Turn and can stop dangerous sweepers like Sceptile and revenge weakened pokes like Nidoqueen. Close Combat provided powerful STAB and hits lots of poke's hard. Stone Edge and Ice Punch provide coverage, especially against those guys with feathers that give Primeape trouble. Vital Spirit is cool for switching in on guys like Amoonguss and Sleep Powder's. EV's are standard.


Props to morningsun, col49, TheStriker, Yonko7, and A dude for rates :)


So how do you like my team and what do you think i can change to improve it? Thanks :)

Your team is rediculously Ground weak. You also have no Fighting Type coverage to hit all of the normal types in the tier. To alleviate these issues, I suggest that you use Poliwrath over Manectric. Manectric mostly to not corrupt your FWG core or get rid of Drapion, who you built your team on.
Great job otherwise.

Thank you, morningsun! I just tried it on PS, and it worked well. With this change, I dont have a scarfer, but my team is relatively fast anyway. Poliwrath allows me to beat Aggron, Kabutops, Crawdaunt, Drapion, Feraligatr, etc. The list goes on. The only real downside to Poliwrath is that it's purpose ties in a lot with tangrowth and the shared water typing with Kabutops is a little unneccessary, but it is a great pokemon. Thanks for the suggestion.

Important:
This is poliwrath's set:

Poliwrath
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Relaxed
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Circle Throw
-Scald

Hiya Jarc, cool team :] SD Drapion is really strong in the current metagame, and I always appreciate it's usage. If at all possible, I'd like to do what I can to help.

As morningsun pointed out, your team has a notable weakness to Ground-type attacks. However, I must disagree with the use of Poliwrath to mitigate this issue :/ Many of the pokemon Poliwrath check can be rather aptly checked by Tangrowth, and with this selection, the most notable Ground-type to threaten your team, Nidoqueen, is left free to run rampant. Moreover, taking into account the general offensive nature of the team, opting out for another defensively oriented 'mon would only serve to ruin your own momentum. To alleviate this issue, I suggest replacing Accelgor with Uxie. Uxie shares Accelgor's ability to set up hazards and maintain momentum via U-Turn, trading in speed and Spikes for bulk and Stealth Rock. Uxie's Psychic typing and access to Levitate make it an excellent check to Nidoqueen and most common Ground-type attackers overall, while generally making it more long-lasting due to a lack of Stealth Rock weakness. Here's my proposed set:


Though I understand the investment in bulk on Drapion, the lack of immediate power really hurts it's ability to sweep more than it's bulk helps it. Drapion continues to set up effectively against most, if not all, of the 'mons it could before, but with the added firepower to break through teams. I would suggest instead using a spread of 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd, allowing Drapion to more effectively sweep.

While Knock Off is somewhat useful to Tangrowth, I feel as though the slot is better spent on Hidden Power Fighting. While it sounds odd, Hidden Power Fighting is a very useful move on Tangrowth, allowing it to hit Steel-types hard, while also hitting common Sap Sipper users such as Sawsbuck and Bouffalant who can otherwise switch into Tangrowth freely and set up Substitutes and/or Swords Dances in it's face.

I realize that Choice Band Entei seems as though it should be running four physical attacks, but that's just a misconception :] Truth is, while often being filler, the fourth attack on Choice Band Entei can be very useful, though all Iron Head is hitting over any other attacking option is Regirock, who is rather uncommon. I would suggest that you replace Iron Head with Will-O-Wisp. This allows Entei to cripplecoffensive switch-in's such as Kabutops, while wearing down defensive responses such as Poliwrath and Qwilfish, forcing them to Rest or Pain Split (respectively) more liberally.

That being said, I hope my comments have been of use to you, gl in the future :)

tl;dr:

Hey Jarc,

Dude, since evry one rated, I'll make a quick rate. Switch Entei to Escavalier. He has more bulk, great typing, and covers up weak patches in your team. Especially when you have Kabutops to revenge kill Fire-Types. It also has a much larger attack than Entei and better bulk. Here is the set: No pics this time.

Escavalier @ Choice Band
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Nature: Brave (+Atk, - Spd)
- Megahorn
- Pursuit
- Iron Head
- Toxic

Toxic sucks to get locked into but no shadow taggers in RU makes it great, perfect for last ditch situations. Megahorn and Iron Head are your STAB and Pursuit is awesome against Psychics who think you'll use Megahorn so Pursuit is helpful their. Life Orb can be used but not prefered. Go with Choice Band if its more help full because it make you reach a Holy 606 Atk.

Thank you, col49 and TheStriker! (I'm suddenly getting lots of rates, thank you very much :)). I took out Poliwrath, as Tangrowth basically does the same thing, and switched him with Primeape to get a revenge killer again, while not adding to my ground weekness. I made col49's changes in moves and EV's, while I also added Uxie. I'll test Escavalier and see how it works, hopefully it'll make a change for the better to this team. Also, im kinda bad with computers, I cant seem to delete the pics of Manectric and Accelgor...

Thanks everyone!

Hiya Jarc nice team you have here ^_^

I have some suggestions that can make your team more efficient.

I'll start with your star Pokemon first, Drapion. First, Black Sludge does have the advantage of making sure Drapion lives a long time; however, Drapion doesn't need this as much as one might think, Drapion would much rather be given more power, or more chances to set up. For this reason, Lum Berry has more use than Drapion; it allows Drapion to set up on Will-O-Wisps, and Thunder Waves, and when combined with Taunt, Drapion can effectively set up on Psychic-, and Ghost-types, notably Cresselia. Battle Armor serves more of a purpose on a more defensively inclined set, but when Drapion is more gung-ho with the offense, Sniper serves Drapion better, as then any Critical Hit will massacre anything.



Second, I think Tangrowth could use some tweaking. Your team is a balanced team that is more offensive, rather than defensive. Your previous set is more defensive and passive, so Grass-type resists can easily set up on Tangrowth once Sleep Powder is used, also Hidden Power Fighting is a paltry 70 BP. An offensive Tank set is better for this team, as it can still utilize its bulk and power to take the opponent down.

This new set takes down common switch-ins to Tangrowth. Leaf Storm will take down anything when coming from a 110 Special Attack, Focus Blast rips apart Sap Sippers such as Bouffalant, and other common switch-ins like Clefable. Hidden Power Rock has better use to hit Fire-types that switchs into Tangrowth. Another option could be Hidden Power Fire, instead of Rock, as then it hits predominately Escavalier and Ferroseed.



Thirdly, Kabutops could be changed a bit to be more effective. Against offensive teams, Kabutops has a hard time setting up Swords Dance, whereas Kabutops has an easier time doing so against defensive teams. Defensive teams don't bother you too much as long as Tangrowth and Taunt Drapion are around. So to help, Waterfall should replace Swords Dance.



Fourthly, Entei's moveset is pretty much good, although there is one change. Will-O-Wisp doesn't serve too much, as Water-types are handled well by Tangrowth and if needed Primeape. Rather, Entei needs Toxic to help take down bulky Water-types that can take a Flare Blitz, or anything that can avoid the 2KO from Flare Blitz.



I hope the suggestions help; Good Luck!

~Summary

Hide

Drapion
Black Sludge -> Lum Berry / Life Orb
Battle Armor -> Sniper

Tangrowth
*New Set*

Kabutops
Swords Dance -> Waterfall

Entei
Will-O-Wisp -> Toxic

Yonko7, I recommend Sleep Talk > Toxic as Entei can switch in to many Sleep Powder and Spore users and surprise them with Sleep Talk. Also, being locked into Toxic is just a bad idea.

Thank you Yonko7 and A dude! I see these changes are very good, and so I will make them to my team. I may also add a threat list later, but no guarantee on that. Thanks!