This team all started with taking a look at the current metagame, recognizing what has been giving me issues with all of my prior teams, and ultimately putting together something well rounded and versatile. Trial and error has led me to my conclusion that Fighting, Fire and Psychic breakdown the underlying layer of the metagame with the overabundance of Steel being used to counter the overabundance of Dragons...
The core of this team is designed to blast through the game's common tanks which allow my own Dragons to clean up the mess. I believed that Fighting type moves provide the most intimidating coverage and when backed up with hidden power Fire on Latias and Gengar, I've noticed it was a struggle for many teams to defend against an onslaught of Fire/Fighting/Psychic attacks.
My initial theory was to create something that kept weather as a non-factor while constantly keeping my opponent guessing and under pressure (basically a dream team on paper when everything gets rolling). That idea evolved into finding switching synergy among bulky, heavy hitters that all had the ability to counter, set up, revenge, force a switch, sweep or break walls in any given situation.
Over the course of this team's laddering I'd find myself either demolishing teams or hanging by my teeth; rarely in between. By match ups alone though, it boils down to pointing out to which sacrifice will set up the sweep. Very simple and surprisingly effective. I found myself easily beating teams in the 1900's with 2 or 3 of my pokemon still at high health. Now is this a testament to my ability as a player or the potency of my team? Not a chance. But what that does mean to me is that the highest tiered level of play has become susceptible to versatile sweeping and maybe this can evolve into something better.
Team Building Process
64 Atk / 192 Spd / 252 SpA
Blaze | Naive
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Endeavor
Infernape has been widely overlooked in BW because how prevalent rain has become, as well as there being more choices in the speedy fighting department. However, Ferrothorn has been a thorn in my side since I first picked up this gen and wanted to be able to threaten it immediately at any given chance because of how devastating it can be if it starts doing its thing. Infernape was the obvious choice for its ability to force it out; its frailty was very discouraging however.
Infernape isn't the same force as it was in DPP, so my initial expectations were to throw on a Focus Sash and use it as a suicide scout that was able to keep Ferrothorn from doing much harm. It does that job very well. It scares out Tyranitar immediately and at least keeps Ninetales from doing too much. Tyranitar is annoying because it automatically breaks my sash, but it's usually not too much to worry about.
Although, Infernape does a good enough job handling weather and most of the time my opponent is going to start with and sacrifice their weather inducer anyway because I don't have weather myself. it beats specs Politoad and (almost) beats toxic stall ones. Thanks to team preview, Infernape essentially becomes expendable if I only need to set up rocks or endeavor a Rotom. If I need to hang on to him I have that option, but it generally involves losing or crippling Gengar in the process, which isn't much of an issue though.
Outside of the weather leads, stuff like Landorus either get themselves endeavored or reveal their scarf. Sableye will always taunt which gives me a free switch to Gengar. Rotom gets endeavored... basically everything gets endeavored which makes it difficult to take down Infernape without losing something yourself.
252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Levitate | Modest
- Trick/Thunder
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast
First off, I need the extra power from modest. This Gengar is no revenge killer and really shines when the opponent switches around thinking it's scarfed and weak. It will almost always take a about a 1/4 off of whatever switches in when spamming shadow ball (exceptions being Blissey and specially bulky steels). My philosophy is that Gengar forces switches, but never had the strength to finish the job. He's much, much better suited to hit and run when he switches in quite easily. Fantastic metagame scout that I always see run as a mediocre revenge killer or overly reliant on such a frustrating move in Focus Blast.
My backup lead to use against the Hippo mainly. It has the ability to 2HKO's specially defensive variants (about a 50/50), but I will always sacrifice Gengar to get Hippowdon into KO range. It's annoying to get stalled and walled with slack off and is definitely a difficult wall for this team to break, but that's the reason why I'm using Modest SpecsGar in the first place. Gengar isn't ever going to sweep a team, but it's raw power wrecks mixed or physical walls while boasting valuable immunity.
Gengar is just as expendable as Infernape, but rarely do I ever sacrifice both at once unless I'm up against weaker teams that are vulnerable to becoming easily broken down. It doesn't OHKO the standard Deoxys-D set which really sucks, so stealth rocks are nearly impossible to avoid, but this team doesn't mind entry hazards too much as long as they are kept to a minimum (never let two layers of anything get down).
Thunder is for SpecsToad (or the rare scarf). Thunder OHKO's 100% of the time on the standard specs variant that don't fully invest in defense. Unfortunately, it only knocks the support set down to 10-20% hp. I'd rather set up rocks and lose Infernape due to it's limited use in the rain than gamble on losing Gengar early, but the options are there and both Gengar and Infernape work to cover all the major leads in tandem.
252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Adamant | Moxie
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
My go-to end game cleaner, or mid game sweeper. Adamant gives it some much needed power over the not-so-important loss of speed. I opted out of naive because I have two very potent priority attackers already, and when not expecting a Scarf, it can stop bulky sweeps and nab a few KO's mid game with dragon claw without locking myself into outrage and losing him to clean later.
This set destroys a lot of things late game, especially given how easy it is to sacrifice something such as Gengar in order to take whatever down to into Outrage KO zone (usually ~30%). Once something goes under 1/3'd of their health it is generally thought of as death fodder any way giving Salamence a free, faster dragon dance.
Stone edge, although shady, becomes a great tool for taking out unsuspecting Tornadus-T early while they're spamming hurricane. I outspeed and OHKO with either life orb or rocks. ScarfMence handles +1 Gyarados pretty well too as a bonus.
Earthquake is there for prediction switches on Jirachi, Heatran and viable against Toxicroak as a last resort. I never want to lose Salamence too early though unless I can get around speed issues with Scizor and Mamoswine.
4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid | Levitate
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Personally, I believe the Lati's are extremely effective in BW and definitely top 10 in terms of versatility and effectiveness. My team usually ends up pivoting around Latias scouting and bluffing choice scarf, then breaking holes with a boosted, mid game rampage. I really want to add more bulk to this set, but I just don't know where to put the EV's. I need the speed tie against other Lati's (unfortunately), and appreciate 2HKOing Ferrothorn in the rain. It is naturally bulky thanks to it's typing and generous stats, but I feel it tries to counter too much at once.
It handles Keldeo exclusively, which is an issue. Maybe not for long if they do end up bringing the ban hammer, but I don't see that happening. Scizor turns into a guessing game if Latias is weakened to where it won't survive a bullet punch... which means Keldo and Scizor on the same team already give me issues. Conkeldurr is annoying as shit if it gets a bulk up, which is why I'm thinking about switching to Psychic... but losing the semi-mixed sweeping ability with Psyshock turns into a "pick your poison".
Latias has holds just as many problems as it creates, which can be avoided by playing smart and patient, but at times it seems like this team moves slightly too fast for her to keep up. At the same time, it is so valuable as an offensive pivot that I'm completely torn on what to do with her. I originally had Latios, but that tiny extra bulk has proven to overcome the loss in power.
248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant | Thick Fat
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stone Edge
- Superpower
Alongside Latias, Mamoswine is right up there for one of the most intimidating threats in OU. It is an essential tanking pivot for this team as its bulk is often underrated, especially against hidden power fire. It comes in for free on Jolteon and sometimes Jirachi if it lacks body slam. I often see stuff life Lucario (if it's looking for the end game swords dance) and Gyarados (really easy to predict if you don't get intimidated) come in then try and set up, only to get KO'd in the process.
Earthquake absolutely tears shit up and gets 2HKO's if you can scare off the Genies or Dragons thinking Ice Shard. Superpower does ~75% to the standard special defensive Ferrothorn, which we always want to kill asap. Stone Edge comes in handy for random neutrality and easing prediction against whether or not your opponent's going to switch Heatran out to Gyarados.
LO Ice Shard is what really makes this set though. It's essential protection against all those Dragons and Genies flying around and a safety net if Scizor and Salamence aren't around to revenge. Mamo forces all sorts of switches, while smacking around everyone else with monstrous earthquakes. Protection against thunderwave is also a bonus, as well as tanking frail sweepers.
248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef
Adamant | Technician
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Superpower
The final tank to round out my offensive pivot points and fallback revenge killer on opposing Mamoswine, Terrakion and whatever else weak that Mamo can't switch into directly. I opted out of choice band, even though I had it originally, because this team starts to break down when I'm switching between three choice users without a spinner. LO bullet punch doesn't have the initial raw power, but if I can get a swords dance off with stealth rocks down, the power and versatility upside becomes greater than that of choice band's.
Generally, Scizor is my most expendable tank thanks to how much shit it resists, which leaves me switching it in more often than other things... which also makes me want to take some of that attack and put it into defense. I haven't tried this though and don't know how well it would do, so any insight about a really bulky SD Scizor would be great, if anyone has experience with it.
Scizor doesn't do as good of a job as I expected it to do when I initially drew up this team. All the damage it takes really adds up over a few turns, no u-turn scouting, weak as a revenge killer and totally shifts roles once it tries to set up SD. I need a steel though, and like having the added priority option, so I don't know.
Conclusion
As much success this team has given me, there are still flaws. This team is built on speed and power. Stall teams are generally not too bad in the rain, but full on sand stall is pretty much gg for me and why I like to run trick on Gengar. Any super, suicidal offensive team that switches well will be a battle of who keeps up the better pressure.
-Deoxys-D will always get off a layer of something unless Gengar can score a lucky crit on the first turn.
-Magnezone with flash cannon ruins the party for Mamoswine
-Jellicent is almost guaranteed to take something down with it and forces me to keep Gengar alive; something this team is not designed for.
-Paraflinch Jirachi is as annoying as ever. My best shot is switching in Mamoswine on thunderwave or Gengar on body slam, or Scizor on iron head then sacrificing whoever in doing as much damage as possible before it gets me.
-Scarf Chomp that isn't so quick to spam outrage is a headache
-Scarf Keldeo in the rain is a pain in the ass and forces me to keep Latias at least around 70% until the end.
-Terrakion can be an issue if I don't have Scizor, but most that I've face generally becomes reckless and over zealous with their predicting.
-Alakazam with a focus sash will usually take out Infernape or Scizor.
At the end of the day though, most threats are generally checked within tandem and sacrificing Scizor to give Latias just enough breathing room set up
is all it takes to start the wrecking ball. This team has as much versatility as I've seen so far, and matches up very, very well against the majority of the metagame.
