Offense with a side of Revenge.

Now I've been looking at a lot of RMT's and many now have a step by step to how a person built their team. After being out of the game for a couple months, I decided to try my hand at brainstorming, testing, and working out the kinks of a team. While most of the kinks seem to be worked out (in my sig, it has my current record with this team), I would like to hear some advice from all of you wonderful team raters \pandering.


First, I wanted to make a team based around one of my favorite pokemon who has really seen a fall from grace. Once the most fearsome sweeper in the game, he barely sees any use: Raikou.

Because Raikou is able to boost his special defense to fairly high levels, I needed a pokemon to absorb ground attacks and powerful, physical, fighting moves all the while keeping with the hyper-offensive approach to this team. With nice resists/immunities/intimidate,a New MixMence does the trick.

While this team has most of it's bases covered in terms of type coverage, I noticed a big lack of speed. Namely, a combination of speed and instant killing power. The two candidates were magmortar and heatran, but I chose magmortar because of his far superior movepool and his ability to kill heatrans, gyarados, scizor, and metagross one on one.

At this point, I felt that I had most of my core team put together, so it was time to start adding my offensive supporting cast. While the remaining three pokemon don't provide any real defensive benefits, they all contribute something unique and valuable to the team. This is an offensive team anyway, so it's all about forcing switches and attempting a sweep. I felt that an agility porygon z is just surprising enough to really hurt some teams not prepared.

About this time I realized that I had 3 pure special attackers and 1 pseudo special attacker. Blissey spells disaster. I decided to get a premier physical attacker (although it seems to be getting a lot of hate recently) who can also be a solid dragon-insurance policy as well as trapper: Choice band Weavile.

And finally, I needed a lead. I need a lead that is preferably physically inclined, has access to stealth rock, has high speed, and provide a very useful service later in the game. Dugtrio can do all of that. Unconventional, but useful nonetheless.


Raikou@Leftovers
Pressure
Timid
68 HP / 116 SpA / 72 SpD / 252 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-Substitute
-Calm Mind

Here he is, the core of this team. Raikou is specially bulky enough to come in on weaker special attacks and either sub on the switch or calm mind up to make the weak attack even weaker. The ideal set up fodder are pokemon like vaporeon, tentacruel, and suicune. The most realistic and common scenario for me is dugtrio has done its job and is KOed by one of the above fodder pokemon and raikou comes in and gets a free turn or two to start what it does. Get behind a sub, calm mind in the face of special attack until they have no chance of breaking your subs, and then unleash +2 or +3 thunderbolts or HP ice for perfect coverage. This set was the ADV god of special attack and people often forget about that and pay dearly.


Weavile@Choice Band
Jolly
Pressure
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
-Ice Shard
-Brick Break
-Ice Punch
-Pursuit

Weavile is my insurance policy. Plain and simple. It can come in and revenge all of the dragons with ice shard so I don't need to worry about a DD Mence much. Pursuit is able to pick off starmie and really just about any psychic type. Oddly enough, pursuit's most key role on this team is picking off sufficiently weakened blissey that are retreating. It is a nice way to fix a huge problem for my team later on. Brick Break takes out t-tar and puts a decent dent in most steel types that wall my STAB. Ice punch is just the most powerful move that weavile has to work with and is the "default" move


Porygon-Z@Life Orb
Download
Modest
70 HP / 252 SpA / 188 Spe
-Agility
-Tri Attack
-Dark Pulse
-Hidden Power [Fighting]

Porygon-Z is really the auxiliary member of this team. He isn't here to take out or counter any specific threats necessarily. This is actually what makes him valuable because many members of this team are tailored to take out and revenge specific threats. Porygon-Z is able to cover such a wide variety because of the perfect coverage it gets with these moves. Couple the perfect coverage with 135 base special attack and a [more than likely] download bost, and you have something that can leave a dent in just about anything not named blissey. Because so many people expect the Scarf/Ice Beam/Tri Attack combo, it is VERY easy to force a switch by using that little bluff and then presto, you are faster than every real threat and you can unleash your super-charged attacks on everything in sight. I love porygon.


Magmortar@Choice Scarf
Flame Body
Timid
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Fire Blast
-Thunderbolt
-Focus Blast
-Hidden Power [Ice]

Heatran's biggest rival in terms of fire types usable in OU. This is my main scizor counter. I bring it in on either a swords dance or bullet punch and then let loose a powerful fire blast or, more often, a focus blast to deal with the inevitable heatran switch. HP ice is for dragons and nothing else, i won't lie. The real benefit of choosing magmortar over heatran is the ability to demolish gyarados and other waters with t bolt. The ability to take on heatran 1v1 with higher speed is also a nice perk as well.

I spent a lot of time writing this, so I would really appreciate CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. All I ask is that you keep the idea of my team in mind when giving suggestions. "The idea" is instant offense with a side of revenge (best served cold, I hear). And please note that my record with this team is currently 9 and 2 so it is obviously not as bad as I'm sure some of you will call it. Rate, enjoy, talk!

No good at suggesting anything so I'll point out some obvious flaws. 4 of your team members easily get killed off by a Scizor's Bullet Punch (Mence is revenge killed by it, Porygon-Z, Dugtrio, Weavile all 1 shot). 3 Choice users mean with some prediction or sacrificing your opponent gets several free set up options. I'd at least replace Magmortar with Magnezone or something. Gets rid of Scizor and helps protect your other guys, but he can't do much beyond that and.. I really don't know. I tried :( Good luck

yeah i have noticed that scizor seems to be my biggest problem, but if i just switch magmortar in as soon as i see scizor, i am able to kill it off or scare it away. Also, scizor can't really do much to raikou at all. even less once i get a calm mind or am behind a sub. either one will spell doom for scizor

If your team is built around Raikou, and less so Salamence, there are a few changes you might want to make. First off is you don't have any insurance against Toxic Spikes, something your team will absolutely hate. Since you're running offense, a spinner other than Starmie doesn't really fit. Thankfully, LO Starmie fits really well into your team over Porygon Z's spot. This is pretty good insurance against most entry hazards, but it lets you also keep up the offensive pressure. This also gives you a better switch in to Infernape, something you definatly need.

Next, your Dugtrio lead seems a bit.. iffy. You lose to azelf if it taunts turn one, and you lose to any other sash/shucca lead. I think a Lead Roserade would fit very well into that spot, it shuts down slower leads like Metagross and Swampert as long as they lack a lum berry, and it gets up Toxic Spikes for your team. TS will really help you wear down bulkier teams, as well as helping Raikou wear down some of his common counters (Blissey.) As a plus, if you keep roserade alive it gives you even more insurance against Toxic Spikes. Duggy doesn't really provide anything for you other than SR, since Weavile is already wearing down Blissey.

Next is Magmortar. You say he's your Scizor counter, but U-turn + SR will definatly wear him down way too fast for you to keep scizor countered very long. I really think Heatran would be better here, but not a scarfed version.
A life orb version, with stealth rock as the fourth move, could really benefit this team by giving you a better scizor switch in, maintaining sr without using dugtrio, and keeping up an offensive pressure.

Nice Team, good luck!

I actually see a lot of problems with this team, some that I'm surprised the above users didn't point out. For starters, Dugtrio is a horrid lead, seeing as it is OHKOed by virtually anything that your opponent tries to throw at it. You say that you aren't into "suicide leads"; however, Dugtrio's defenses are weaker than those of Azelf. Dugtrio's purpose is to function as a revenge killer. Instead, I suggest that you consider a Swampert lead. Swampert gets down Rocks against every lead besides Aerodactyl and Azelf, and he also makes an excellent phazer with Roar. To put the icing on the cake, his bulk is second to none. Here is the set:


Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 Hp / 212 Def / 40 SpA
Relaxed nature (+Defense, -Speed)
~ Stealth Rock
~ Earthquake
~ Ice Beam
~ Roar

The normal Swampert lead set. Stealth Rock is, of course, a necessity on any good team. Earthquake is some strong STAB that allows you to hit the common Metagross lead very hard (and to an extent, Infernape and Heatran leads). Ice Beam is a great move on Swampert, allowing it to hit the flying-types that Earthquake cannot reach; plus, it can occasionally freeze the foe, leaving them helpless. The final move is Roar. Roar is an awesome move on Swampert, as it allows him to scout the opponent's team, as well as rack up residual damage on them via Stealth Rock. Knowing your opponents team early in the match is very important, as it allows you to have an early advantage in the game. If you choose to continue to use Dugtrio, throw caution in the wind; it really can be OHKOed by almost anything your opponent throws at it.

On Salamence, I suggest ditching the Mild nature altogether. Salamence is a Pokemon that needs more speed to be sucessful, as it already has plenty of power, and as it stands, many Pokemon can outspeed you with relative ease (such as Jolly Lucario). With such high powered moves at your disposal, Mild nature is hardly a necessity. Now, I would certainly consider getting a Rapid Spinner in place of Weavile. Half of your team is weak to, and takes 25% from, Stealth Rock upon switching in. A Rapid Spinner would help ease your pain greatly. However, I think that changing more than one Pokemon on your team would greatly upset the balance of it, and would also destroy the purpose of the RMT forum. As stathakis said, "this is the rate my team, not the build my team". Just something to consider, is all.

I'm not sure that you spent enough time playing with this team (only eleven matches?) to make a legit RMT. The purpose of an RMT is to ask for help on a team that you have been using for a while, not a team that you've played a few matches with. This way, you can better identify your threats, and present an altogether better RMT. Anyway, I hope that I helped, and good luck! =)

Ugh, Dugtrio is such a terrible lead. Why on earth would you use Stealth Rock on a Choiced attacker? I think a MUCH better lead for an offensive team like this could be Aerodactyl or Roserade, as Hunt said. Heatran can function with Stealth Rock and a Shuca Berry lead.

Raikou really wants Rapid Spin support, and It's nice to have a status absorber. Starmie fits well into this role, because it can take status easily thanks to Natural Cure. I think a Rapid Spinner like Starmie will allow you to get Raikou onto the field with no threat of entry hazards, espeically Toxic Spikes and Spikes. Also, three of your Pokemon are weak to Stealth Rock.

As far as Magmortar, he is outclassed as a revenge killer by ScarfTran or even ScarfApe. I think you can change this by using Heatran.

I think you should run Max speed on Salamence. Run a spread of either this: 84 Attack/176 Sp. Attack/252 Speed with a Naive nature, or 16 Attack/240 Sp. Attack/252 Speed with a Naive nature. Max Speed is helpful when facing the likes of Flygon or Jirachi.

Hope I helped, and Good Luck. Oh, shit. Everyone said what I was goinng to say. I had this post up for a while and I forgot I was in the middle of the post. Sorry guys =)

To begin

Dugtrio-Horrible lead OTKed by most leads. As simple as that. I personally recommned the Swampert as he is my go to lead that gets rocks and scouts. However Roserade can also be a great asset to the team. Gettting T-Spikes

Salamence- Others have mentioned this but run max speed. You may also consider a dd mence is this slot to see how the 2 compare.

Raikou-FIne

Weavile- I love this thing. However since the moving of Chomp to Ubers and the giving of Bullet punch to scizor. He isn't as useful as he can be and the metagame isn't as kind to him any more. So I recommend replacing with your own CB scizor. Who can be a threat. He is number one used for a reason

Porygon-Z-Is so frial and slow and will be koed the turn u agility or will be worn down by the life orb quick. He could work but it is a toss up plus you would have to switch out everytime scizor comes in as he will own you. He is another the meta just isn't nice to him. Thus I recommend the use of Starmie as everyone else has. As he spins and still hits hard with specail attack and already has good base speed.

Magmoratar- Honestly a nice pokemon but didn't get all the advantages evire got when evolving. Furthermore he is simply outclassed by almost every firetype in the OU meta. I recommend replacing wiht Rotom-H (defensive scarfed)however as he counters scizor and can cripple blissey what you and others have identified as key enemies of the team.

The team I listed is in no way perfect but it does put you with a much better team then you have listed Hope I helped and GL

Sorry for not mentioning this, but those are just the 11 matches on wifi. I have been messing around and tweaking this team for about a week on shoddy. I should have made that clear. Dugtrio seems to be receiving a lot of criticism so i will try a roserade lead with t spikes to see if that fares any better.

EDIT: And roserade fixes that nasty t spikes weakness that really does hinder raikou. thanks for pointing that out because while i don't run into it much, it is probably raikou's least favorite entry hazard

Dugtrio has been changed and Roserade is the new lead. I love dugtrio, but I feel like this was for the best...

I will be testing starmie in place of porygon on shoddy. More than likely it will beat out porygon. Just thought you all should know.

I agree hunt on changing Magmorter to Heatran but I think you should use the choice scarf set since Lucario can be a huge threat to your team if it gets a sd in.