When magical embryos attack! (a RMT by Snorlaxe)

[Snorlaxe]

TEAM AT A GLANCE




INTRODUCTION

so ive been getting back into pokemon lately, and decided to make a new team. i wanted to base this team around a pokemon who was my absolute favorite sweeper of early BW: bulky calm mind reuniclus. i knew from experience that this pokemon was an absolute fucking beast, and even though it was now a completely different metagame from the last time i used CM rank (literally, blaziken, thundurus, and excadrill were still OU at the time), i was confident that it could still be a great sweeper. i also wanted my team to be able to check threats effectively without going overboard, as anybody who has played BW knows, there is just so much shit to deal with that it's pretty much impossible for one team to be able to check everything. basically, i was setting out to make a team that could take hits well while still being quite offensive (which means im pretty much not interested in trash like forretress lol). i think that i have accomplished this goal.

my rating with this team is just over 1300 on the smogon server. while this isn't awful by any stretch, it really isn't great either. so i wanna make this RMT to ask for some advice. the RMT forum has been shaken up lately, and now it's bigger, better, and has more active and good raters than ever, so this seemed like a great time to ask for advice on the team ive been using for about a week. im really looking for some good suggestions, so i'll test absolutely everything. oh, and im sure that nobody is really interested in a "how i built this team section"....i'll cover why i picked each individual member in their descriptions, no need to be redundant you know~



THE TEAM

Gastrodon @ Leftovers

• ability: Storm Drain
• 252 HP | 252 Def | 4 SpA
• Bold nature (+Defense, -Attack) ive changed this to a relaxed nature
• moveset:
  • Earth Power - obviously i wanted a powerful ground-type STAB move, and earth power seemed like the best choice. lately ive been considering replacing it with earthquake simply to hit fucking annoying tyranitar harder, but terrakion and scizor pretty much already rape the shit out of him, so it isn't too big of a deal. ive changed earth power to earthquake
  • Ice Beam - i chose ice beam because it lets me absolutely maul gliscor, as well as deal with those pesky fucking dragonite who are absolutely everywhere these days. ice beam also lets me deal with landorus and even salamence, though it seems that i rarely see the later pokemon these days.
  • Toxic - this is a really important move on gastrodon because it means that i can poison something like a jellicent switch-in, effectively removing that wall for the duration of the match (or at least severely cripple their walling ability). its annoying how much shit is immune to toxic, but oh well.
  • Recover - obviously this one is a given. allows gastrodon to last for extremely long periods of time. this is important, because hes probably my team's defensive backbone when you get right down to it, so i need him to stick around for a long time throughout each match.

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• Why this Pokemon?
  • gastrodon was actually the last member to be added to my team. looking over what i had so far, it looked like a well-played rain team could really give me a tough time. i'd like to say that i thought long and hard about what pokemon i could use to patch this weakness up, but i pretty much said: "rain weakness? lol imma slap on a gastrodon". however, i think that gastrodon is the best fit for this team tbh. he provides me with a unique set of resistances, as well as a valuable water immunity. he also is pretty much my team's defensive backbone. i do get really fucking sick of random-ass celebi coming in on me 24/7, but that's what heatran is for i suppose!

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• EVs and nature:
  • really simple EV spread
  • 252 HP so i can take hits better overall
  • 252 Defense EVs with a Bold nature maximize my physical bulk, which is important because gastrodon's physical defense is actually far from great (but its special defense is above-average).

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• What changes have I considered on this Pokemon?
  • ive always wanted to find a place to use scald on this set. however, im not sure where i could fit it. i mean, toxic and recover are pretty much totally necessary. earth power is definitely really important as well. the only place where i feel scald could go is over ice beam, but then im utter set-up bait for substitute dragonite, who is becoming more and more popular. also, i love having the ability to OHKO gliscor and landorus, which i cant do with scald iirc (correct me if im wrong about that though)
  • sometimes i feel like gastrodon is too defensive for my team. i also hate how some pokemon, namely celebi, have a really easy time coming in on him without care. if someone could find a pokemon who can counter rain and not be total set-up fodder for a ton of mons, that would be much appreciated!

Latios @ Life Orb

• ability: Levitate
• 4 HP | 252 SpA | 252 Spe
• Timid nature (+Speed, -Attack)
• Moveset:
  • Dragon Pulse - i used to use draco meteor in this slot, but eventually i just got hella pissed about how the -2 special attack drop pretty much forced latios to switch out. ive only been using dpulse for a few days, but so far i like it tons more. not having to switch out every time i used my STAB move has been super helpful, so i dont regret the change. i do miss the sheer raw power of draco meteor sometimes though, but oh well!
  • Surf - surf has been really good to me so far. it lets me smash the shit out of annoying heatran who think that they can come in to sponge draco meteor. it also actually lets me pick off weakened tyranitar, which is hugely helpful as they always try to come in expecting to trap me.
  • Hidden Power Fire - HP fire fucking rules! so many dumbshit scizor will come in on me, take a dragon pulse and think "okay, im safe now. time to u-turn motherfucker!". then the same scizor is outsped and OHKOed the next turn. this is great, as it allows latios to act as a pseudo-lure to scizor, who is a huge threat to reuniclus. HP fire also lets latios rape the shit out of annoying as hell ferrothorn.
  • Recover - recover is great because it lets me heal off stealth rock damage, life orb recoil, and any hits i may have taken. it does wonders for latios's longevity, allowing him to stick around and fire off powerful attacks throughout the battle. it also gives me something to do on turns where i know the opponent will switch, but i dont know to whom.

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• Why this Pokemon?
  • i chose latios for my team for several reasons. number one, i wanted some of the extremely useful resistances and immunities that latios supplies. number two, latios is great because he really allows me to soften up the opposing team nicely. this is great because it makes it much easier for reuniclus to pull out a sweep in the lategame. number three, i knew that latios could act as an effective lure to scizor, who i wanted to have a way to remove. i actually used to use expert belt to lure scizor more effectively, but i figure with heatran on my team, scizor is still checked pretty nicely. however, i would honestly say that the main reason i used latios was because i think he's fucking badass. also, i consider him to be the most powerful mon in OU right now in terms of the ability to deal immediate damage, so he was a natural choice for my team. i also typically end up leading with latios just because of his ability to threaten pretty much everything in the game straight from the get-go.

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• EVs and nature:
  • another ridiculously simple spread
  • 252 Speed EVs and a timid nature to outrun as much shit as possible. it sucks that hidden power fire means i cant tie with other latios, latias, and gengar, but oh well!
  • 252 Special Attack EVs let me wreck shit
  • the remaining 4 EVs are chucked into HP, lolz

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• What changes have I considered on this Pokemon?
  • sometimes i find myself missing the sheer power that draco meteor provides me with. however, i think dragon pulse is a lot more useful overall, as it doesn't make latios a total sitting duck after he fires off his STAB move. not providing a window for anything to set up is pretty important imo, sooo im probably not gonna switch back to draco meteor.
  • sometimes i wanna use psyshock to fuck up blissey and chansey so reuniclus can sweep more easily, but reuniclus can actually beat bliss/chans in a 1-on-1 situation. theyre just kinda annoying mons though, but honestly, every move on my current set is too important to replace with psyshock imo
  • maybe use expert belt to bluff a choice set and lure scizor more easily? idk, i catch plenty of dumb scizor off-guard as it is
  • no other changes. im definitely not replacing latios either. he's an extremely important member of my team!

Heatran @ Air Balloon

• ability: Flash Fire
• 252 SpA | 4 SpD | 252 Spe
• Modest nature (+Special Attack, -Attack)
• moveset:
  • Fire Blast - obligatory powerful STAB move. if you couldn't tell by the offensive EV spread, im not running that gay specially defensive heatran; im going with a good, old-fashioned offensive heatran motherfucker! so obviously fire blast is a given. fuck those pussies who use flamethrower; fire blast's lesser accuracy is a small price to pay for the sheer power it brings to the table imo.
  • Earth Power - i pretty much use earth power solely to deal with opposing heatran lol. this sounds really situational, but heatran is super common, and most don't carry air balloon, so it's totally worth it. it also lets me hit tyranitar kinda-sorta hard, which is always useful.
  • Hidden Power Grass - i mainly run hidden power grass to 2HKO obnoxious water-types who always try to come in on me. i used to run HP ice in this slot because i hated dragonite's guts, but now i have scarf terra to revenge him (as well as scizor's bullet punch to pick off weakened dnite). also, the ability to OHKO unsuspecting gastrodon and swampert is fucking sick, as most heatran these days aren't even offensive variants, so they usually don't even see it coming.
  • Stealth Rock - obligatory stealth rock. the most useful entry hazard in the game, and pretty much a must for any good team. heatran forces a shitload of switches, so i can usually set up rocks really really early in a match without breaking a sweat.

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• Why this Pokemon?
  • thanks to heatran's great typing and immediate power, he was a great choice for my team. i also really needed a pokemon to set up stealth rock, and heatran fit the bill nicely. plus, air balloon heatran is capable of countering tons of shit (provided his air balloon stays intact) my team could otherwise struggle with, such as nasty plot earth power celebi. heatran's fire immunity is kinda wasted on my team due to my sheer number of fire resists, but its always helpful to have an immunity! finally, ive found running offensive heatran to be hugely beneficial, as it seems that every heatran ive been seeing lately is a specially defensive variant who cant hit hard. many people dont expect to be raped by a fire blast off of a fully EV-boosted base 130 special attack stat, so you'd be surprised how many players are caught off-guard!

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• EVs and nature:
  • lol yet another simple spread, damn im creative
  • 252 speed evs to outpace shit like scizor and magnezone
  • 252 special attack evs and a modest nature let heatran hit ridiculously hard. even pokes who resist fire blast are gonna be taking about 35%-40% on the switch-in!

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• What changes have I considered on this Pokemon?
  • ive considered using hidden power ice over hidden power grass once more. the ability to OHKO gliscor and dragonite is pretty cool i guess, but heatran's teammates already deal with the aforementioned threats pretty well.
  • ive also toyed around with the idea of using a timid nature to outspeed defensive gliscor and smash it with fire blast, but im not running hidden power ice -- plus my other pokemon handle gliscor really well -- so the need to outspeed gliscor is greatly reduced
  • i used to run leftovers (and even life orb for a brief time lol), but ive found air balloon to be extremely useful as of late. still, i would be open to item changes if anyone has something to suggest!

Scizor @ Choice Band

• ability: Technician
• 248 HP | 248 Atk | 12 Spe
• Adamant nature (+Attack, -Special Attack)
• moveset:
  • U-turn - really useful, because not only does it deal huge damage, but it also allows me to keep offensive momentum in my favor. really useful for wearing down obnoxious mons like bronzong who could also trouble reuniclus.
  • Bullet Punch - da fuckin best move ever! gives me a secondary way to check double boosting terrakion. it even lets me revenge kill dumb bitches like dragonite. plus it just lets me pick off fast yet frail sweepers like landorus, latios, and tornadus. in fact, the pokes it picks off dont even have to be frail....scizor is so strong that pretty much every non-defensive pokemon will be 2HKOed by bullet punch (as long as they dont resist it!).
  • Quick Attack - quick attack is useful because it lets me pick of gyarados, infernape, and volcarona more easily. i dont use pursuit because i absolutely HATE being locked into a such a weak move, but i do sometimes miss the ability to trap choice scarf/specs latios..... ive changed quick attack to pursuit
  • Superpower - though it requires good prediction, superpower is invaluable for letting me OHKO dumb heatran, magnezone, and ferrothorn. you gotta catch them on the switch though, which can be pretty tricky business. however, if you manage to land a KO, it's a hugely rewarding feeling lol.

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• Why this Pokemon?
  • lol as if i even need to explain. it's been the best and most pokemon in the OU metagame for like two years straight, nuff said. scizor provides my team with useful resistances, and helps me keep offensive momentum. he also gives me a way to wear down the opposing team's core, as well as rape tyranitar.

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• EVs and nature:
  • 248 HP EVs maximize scizor's overall bulk while giving it an extra switch-in to stealth rock
  • 248 attack EVs and an adamant nature let me hit hard as hell, which is the main draw of choice band scizor in the first place!
  • 12 speed evs let me outpace standard choice band scizor and u-turn out before they can touch me
  • if someone would come up with an ev spread that would let me outpace standard tyranitar, it would be much appreciated! i wanna be able to smash ttar with u-turn before it can hit me with fire blast.

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• What changes have I considered on this Pokemon?
  • i have considered changing back to pursuit instead of quick attack. while i do love being able to revenge gyarados, volcarona, and infernape, my other teammates can handle those pokes pretty well. idk though, i just hate being locked into pursuit. any thoughts on this?

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf

• ability: Justified
• 4 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe
• Jolly nature (+Speed, -Special Attack)
• moveset:
  • Close Combat - even without a boost from swords dance or choice band or whatever, close combat lets me hit like a fucking truck. it also lets me sweep late-game when all of the mons who resist fighting are gone. i know that scarf terra isn't meant to be a sweeper, but it's fast as fuck and ridiculously powerful, so ive actually swept teams with it before once the physical walls are removed
  • Stone Edge - another great STAB move. also, all of the main pokemon terrakion is aiming to revenge kill, such as dragonite, volcarona, and gyarados, are OHKOed by stone edge. the poor accuracy is kinda a letdown though.
  • X-Scissor - i use this move almost solely to OHKO celebi, who can be really annoying. for whatever reason, a lot of people dont expect terrakion to stay in on celebi, and are pretty surprised when their pixie pokemon is KOed. aside from hitting celebi, it has absolutely no use though lol. close combat and stone edge are pretty much all terrakion needs to succeed.
  • Rock Slide - complete and utter filler. however, i do use it when im facing volcarona simply because i dont want to have to risk a stone edge miss. i also use it to pick off weakened dragonite and gyarados, because im just fucking neurotic about accuracy and have been let down by stone edge's 80% accuracy in the past. ive changed rock slide to frustration

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• Why this Pokemon?
  • in my opinion, choice scarf terrakion is the absolute best revenge killer in the current OU metagame. it can revenge kill everything under the sun, including dangerous threats like lucario, haxorus, dragonite, volcarona, gyarados, infernape, and salamence (and that's just the beginning lol). it is insanely fast and powerful, and with just two moves, it can absolutely rape any pokemon in the game pretty much. im pretty much not going to be replacing terrakion, as he is a key member of this team. the only thing i dont like is when i anticipate a dragon dance from something like dragonite, and am instead met with outrage...but that's not terrakion's fault. that's just my poor prediction :(

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• EVs and nature
  • 252 attack evs let me wreck shit, especially with terrakion's base 129 attack and great dual STAB moves
  • 252 speed evs and a jolly nature let terrakion outspeed pretty much every pokemon in existence. lol seriously scarf terrakion is just the best revenge killer in existence
  • the remaining 4 HP evs are just dumped there for no reason

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• What changes am I considering on this Pokemon?
  • absolutely nothing. i have no intention of replacing terrakion. it is by far the best revenge killer i have ever used, and dont intend to let it go for anything. it's just way too useful, and no other pokemon can revenge kill the extremely wide range of threats that terrakion can.

Reuniclus @ Life Orb ive changed life orb to leftovers

• ability: Magic Guard
• 252 HP | 252 Def | 4 SpA
• Bold nature (+Defense, -Attack)
• moveset:
  • Calm Mind - i knew right from the get-go that i wanted to use calm mind reuniclus. with calm mind, reuniclus can set up on every special attacker around (as long as the opposition isn't also a calm mind abuser lol). with just two boosts, it can sweep whole teams, but honestly ive been able to obtain more than two boosts multiple times under the right conditions.
  • Psychic - my STAB move of choice. after a few boosts, pretty much everything is OHKOed. i dont wanna use psyshock because honestly, in a 1-on-1 situation against blissey and chansey, reuniclus can come out on top about 99% of the time. also, im not that concerned about beating opposing calm mind users because scizor and terrakion can usually revenge kill them most of the time.
  • Focus Blast - pretty much lets me hit whatever psychic doesnt. it's a shame that it has such shitty accuracy, but reuniclus is so bulky that it can afford a miss most of the time. between psychic and focus blast i can pretty much hit everything hard as hell.
  • Recover - this is what makes reuniclus such a deadly sweeper. it's bulky as fuck, it's really powerful...and it has access to reliable recovery? gg. even if im not actively boosting, recover is useful for restoring me to full health and then attempting a sweep later in the game.

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• Why this Pokemon?
  • the way that i build teams is that i pick one pokemon to center my team around. then i build around that pokemon until i have a complete and good team. this time, the pokemon i chose to build around was defensive calm mind reuniclus. i knew how destructive it could be with the right support, and i wanted to take advantage of that. thanks to how my team supports reuniclus, i can pull out a successful calm mind reuniclus sweep about 60% of the time (and then about 20% of the time i just win by a latios or scarf terrakion sweep lol). calm mind reuniclus is a fucking beast; it's not as popular as it once was, but i still encourage you to try it out, as it can absolutely destroy unprepared teams.

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• EVs and nature
  • i pretty much decided to maximize physical bulk so i could set up on physical attackers more easily.
  • it kinda sucks that i don't have any special attack investment, but oh well, i'd much rather be super bulky and be able to set up on tons of shit

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• What changes have I considered on this Pokemon?
  • um pretty much nothing....i mean, it is the focus of my team.
  • i tested leftovers over life orb for a brief time, but i found life orb's power much more important than leftovers' recovery. it would be a different story if reuniclus didnt have recover, but with recover my lack of lefties isnt a big deal. plus life orb gives my attacks a kick without even taking away any of my HP thanks to magic guard which is pretty fucking sweet!

thank you for reading this! i appreciate any and all feedback, and will reply shortly after testing any suggested changes. however, please don't replace reuniclus or suggest that i do so, as he is the focus of the team and i'd like to keep him intact. thanks a bunch everybody!

[Jazz]

Idk, maybe it sounds dumb but Pursuit is a HUGE reason as to why I love Scizor so much, and considering you run Terrakion I believe Pursuit > Quick Attack indefinitely.

[tikidude]

Perhaps you could use Toxicroak over Gastrodon. He counters rain fairly well, and is more offensively oriented.

[Snorlaxe]

Idk, maybe it sounds dumb but Pursuit is a HUGE reason as to why I love Scizor so much, and considering you run Terrakion I believe Pursuit > Quick Attack indefinitely.

funny you should post this, because i was fucking around with this team some more today and lost a battle because of some dumbass choice specs latios, so i changed quick attack back to pursuit. thanks!

Perhaps you could use Toxicroak over Gastrodon. He counters rain fairly well, and is more offensively oriented.

thanks for your suggestion. im now testing bulk up toxicroak and swords dance toxicroak in gastrodon's slot.

keep the rates coming people~

[Harsha]

Hey Snorlaxe,

This is a pretty cool team, and I don't see many major changes to be made so I'll stick to the nitpicks. First, like you said, I would go with Earthquake > Earth Power to hit not only Tyranitar harder, but especially SubCMRachi, as it will prevent a Stall war. Even though you like Life Orb on Reuniclus, I think that Leftovers would be very helpful, as it allows you to escape from many 2HKOs and turn them into 3HKOs. Now, on Terrakion, you could try out Frustration (or Return, I guess) > Rock Slide as it could help you out against some uncommon threats that resist Fight / Rock coverage (namely Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Toxicroak, and Gallade), though I guess this is based on preference mostly. I agree with the change from Quick Attack to Pursuit because you already have reliable STAB priority in Bullet Punch. Other than what I said, I can't really find any major threats to this team. Great team, and good luck!

[Joeyboy]

Really great team man! The type synergy is really great, and I really like that your team does a good job paving a way for a Reuniclus sweep (I too have a team that does this, though with a different approach :)

So the first threat that comes to mind is Sub CM Jirachi. While Gastrodon walls any standard Water Pulse/Thunder Variant, all it takes is a Psyshock/Thunder(more effective imo anyway) variant to do a lot of damage to your team. My first recommendation is changing Earth Power for Earthquake on Gastrodon. This makes a world of difference against Jirachi as it can hit the weaker physical side. There are practically no downsides to this as you've not invested in any SpAtk and Earthquake has a higher base power.

A small change I would like to suggest is running Quick Attack over Superpower rather than over Pursuit, so that Scizor is running BP/U-Turn/Pursuit/Quick Attack. Superpower is really used to hit, specifically, Heatrans and Ferrothorns on the switch-in. Your team doesn't really mind either of those pokemon; Ferrothorn is perfect set-up bait for Reuniclus and Heatran can be dealt with by Latios, your own Heatran, or even revenge killed by Terrakion. Pursuit on the other hand can be used to reliably trap and kill some really problematic pokes, specifically Latios and Latias. Your only resist(Heatran) has no bulk invested and Gastro can't take repeated Draco Meteors. Now while a Choice-locked Pursuit can be easy to set-up on I believe your team will be able to check any of those threats(example SD Lucario can't reliably sweep with your CS Terrakion in the wings). Quick Attack I believe will also be more helpful than Superpower because it turns Scizor into an even better Revenge-killer for numerous other threats.

Another thing of note this that your main rain counter(Gastrodon) can be very easily lured and killed by those Random HP Grass 'mons on Offensive Rain teams. Really thats just something to look out for, but if you keep having trouble with it let me know :)

Hope you try these suggestions out, lemme know how they go!

Good Luck!

[Axmaster68]

Great team, I just have 1 change I'd like to suggust. Your team synergy is great, but the movesets on your pokemon mean you only have 1 move that hits Fighting types super-effectively, and that's Reniculus's Psychic. To fix this, and to absolutely annoy the crap out of anyone who trys to pull in a Fighting type on Scizor, subsitute Aerial Ace in for either Pursuit/ Quick Attack/ Superpower. I'm not sure which to subsitute for, I just think that it might be a great boost for a great team.

Good luck with your great team!

[Chillarmy]

Definitely use Expert Belt > LO on Latios. If Latios isn't accompanied by Politoed and takes LO damage, then HP Fire becomes ridiculously telegraphed. Having a much more reliable lure for Scizor will be a load more helpful to Rank in the long run. Plus, you can bluff a choice item and probably clean up stuff like Ferrocent cores later in the game, if Rankurusu isn't alive.

I'll give a much more detailed (and without a doubt, better) rate later, but great team so far and good luck with it!

[Vein]

for your scizor, if you want to run QA over pursuit, you can change him into an SDer since rotom-w is not in your team anyway to take advantage of u-turn. then the set shall be as follows: BP/QA/Bug Bite/SD. QA is good to surprise volcanora who thinks can set-up on you.

[San_Pellegrino]

your scizor has an extra speed (or hp ev, whichever you wanted to maximize whatever) ev - giving you 512 rather than 508. and move all the 4 hp evs you have on choiced terrak to def or spdef to give you an odd hp number and minimize hazards damage - latios has hp fire and iirc the hp iv is 30 so you should be fine there.


might edit in a real rate later

[bubbly]

How do you beat Jellicent? It beats everything you have except Reuniclus 1v1.

[Soulous]

As bubbly has stated, your team has a bit of a Jellicent problem. To remedy this I would suggest replacing Gastrodon with a far more offensive solution in Virizion (CM or SD), who is also a fantastic weapon against rain with its great special defense to take water and electric attacks. Another possibility is the increasingly popular specially defensive bulk up Breloom, though it cannot take hits nearly as well even with full defensive investment.

[BKC]

Strong special attackers such as Specs Latios and Trick Room Reuniclus are really troublesome for this team. The former 2HKOs everything on your team except for Heatran, who is completely walled by it and can only switch in once since it's taking 50% minimum. Your main check, Scizor, takes a massive [60.1% - 70.8%], which is an easy 2HKO after Stealth Rock. The second outlined threat sets up against Terrakion locked into Close Combat; your main check, Scizor, doesn't possess the bulk needed to reliably tank Life Orb Focus Blasts, and you can't outstall it with Gastrodon because you're running a physically defensive spread. How do we go about fixing this problem? Simply change Scizor's EV spread to 208 HP | 176 Atk | 124 SpD, and you'll be able to take two successive Specs Latios Draco Meteors, while taking a hit from Reuniclus and then still retaining some use later in the match rather than being left with barely any health and being reduced to death fodder.

I'd also like you to consider changing Heatran to a specially defensive variant with a moveset of Stealth Rock | Lava Plume | Toxic | Protect. It is a great Jellicent lure (Scald does something pitiful like 25%), which is good for your team since it beats 5 of your 6 mons one-on-one. It also takes some pressure off Scizor when dealing with Latios; if you can see from team preview that their team benefits Hidden Power Fire, you can switch into Heatran with little risk to potentially obtain a Flash Fire boost. If they go for Surf, no big deal; you take ~60%, Protect the next turn for some Lefties recovery, and then switch to Gastrodon for a Storm Drain boost.

Cool team, hope I helped.

[Snorlaxe]

thanks for all the rates guys!


@harasha - i tested all your small moveset changes and thought that they all worked really well. thanks for your suggestions dudee!

@Joeyboy - thanks for your suggestions. ive already changed earth power to earthquake on gastrodon. as for quick attack over superpower, ive found superpower waaay too useful for nailing unsuspecting magnezone and the likes on the switch-in. i'll still test quick attack out though and see if im missing superpower too badly

@Axmaster68 - im not a big fan of aerial ace on scizor because of its extremely limited type coverage, and the fact that due to its low base power, it wont even be hitting too hard. thanks for your suggestion though!

@Chillarmy - i'll test expert belt over life orb. i really like how life orb gives me great power on every attack, but i definitely see the benefits in being able to lure scizor more easily and reliably, so i'll test expert belt again.

@Vein - it's not like i need to have rotom-w as well to use choice band scizor and be effective with it. scizor is really important for my team as his powerful bullet punches and u-turns let me wear down the opposing core for reuniclus or latios to come in and clean up later. i feel like swords dance scizor wouldn't fit my team as well. however, i'll still test it out...who knows, maybe i'll like it. thanks for your suggestion!

@SP - lol oops, that was just a typo on scizor's evs (the spread im using is 248 HP | 248 Atk | 12 Spe). i'll also fix terras evs, thanksyou

@bubbly - usually i'll just set up on jellicent with reuniclus without breaking a sweat (for some reason they sometimes think they can beat me, lol morons). either that or i'll just poison it with gastrodon's toxic, as jellicent really cant touch gastrodon. however, i definitely see how jelli is a threat to my team defensively, so i'll work on a way to get around it more reliably.

@Soulous - i think that i'll test a swords dance virizion in gastrodon's slot first, then if i dont like that, i'll test a calm mind variant. thanks for your suggestion!

@BKC - i'll test out that alternate ev spread on scizor, that looks like it could come in handy. i actually kinda love the heatran moveset youve posted. i'll definitely try out both of your suggestions asap. thanks for your rate man!


thanks for everything so far guys, more feedback is definitely welcome! :)

[Temptation]

this team is great :)
It checks most parts of the metagame very good, without loosing much offensive power.
But I can see a Trick Room Reuniclus weak, although scizor might work as a check. it takes 252SpAtk Life Orb Reuniclus (+SAtk) Focus Blast vs 248HP/0SpDef Light Metal Scizor (Neutral): 63% - 74% (218 - 257 HP). Guaranteed 2HKO. And Gastrodon might be able to avoid a 2HKO but it cant really do anything back. As Long as you dont let Terrakion die, your team will not be swept easy, well done. I'd just like to know what do you switch in MixedMence?

~Temptation

[Sayonara]

Hey, cool team. I recommend Hidden Power [Ice] on Heatran, to be able to OHKO Dragonite, whilst it takes a turn to destroy the Balloon.

Good luck!

[Snorlaxe]

@Temptation - thank you for the rate and praise! yeah, trick room reuniclus can be kinda annoying. thankfully i dont see them too often these days. and when i do see them, i just switch in scizor, and theyre usually immediately threatened out. as for mixmence....well, i really havent seen one the entire time ive been battling (the few mence i see are always DD)! however, i imagine i would switch to heatran, especially if its balloon was intact.

@Kira Light - thanks, but i dont think i need HP ice on heatran. terrakion and scizor already check dragonite nicely so i really havent struggled with him too much. and besides, i really love catching dumb gastrodon off-guard and OHKOing them :D

[Soulous]

I don't see the merit of using Frustration over something like EQ which hits Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and Toxicroak for super effective damage and still hits Gallade for practically the same damage. It also can hit Golurk (lol) and some steels Jirachi and Metagross for slightly more damage than CC.

Also another suggestion for a Gastrodon replacement if you don't choose to go with Virizion is Rotom-C, which would give you a good switch-in to water and electric moves and keep up the offensive pressure against rain teams with volt switch and leaf storm.

[The Goddamn Batman]

Originally Posted by Fat Snorlaxe

@Axmaster68 - im not a big fan of aerial ace on scizor because of its extremely limited type coverage, and the fact that due to its low base power, it wont even be hitting too hard. thanks for your suggestion though!

I just want to point out that Aerial Ace gets a Technician boost, so its base power isn't actually that low. Personally I wouldnt use it, but to each his own. Also, great team Snorlaxe! I can't add that much since I haven't played OU in forever, but if you do decide to use Toxicroak, an item that works really well is Air Balloon. A lot of times players have no way to take out Toxicroak without Ground type moves, so sometimes you'll be able to add that crucial boost while they take out your balloon. Just an idea though, GL.

[ThePillsburyDoughBoy]

Seeing as how everyone is saying you are TR Reuniclus weak, what you can do is set your own Reuniclus' speed IV's to zero, ensuring a speed tie in order to pull of a Calm Mind or recover. Sure you can't do anything back immediatly, but once you get one or two CM's in, you are in the clear. This is just another way to help with the Reuniclus problem, the lost speed doesn't matter since you're not outspeeding anything except non-gyro ball Ferrothorn.

[min min]

Heatran's Balloon allows it to counter dragons which rely on Dragon/Fire/Ground coverage, but you can't abuse that with your current moveset. Maybe leave handling water-types to Gastrodon and you could run HP Ice to deal with DD Mence, Haxorus and Dragonite at +1, which is pretty important if they happen to run a double dragon strategy to wear down Scizor or use a Magnet Pull pokemon.

[alexwolf]

Originally Posted by Fat harsha2014

Hey Snorlaxe,

This is a pretty cool team, and I don't see many major changes to be made so I'll stick to the nitpicks. First, like you said, I would go with Earthquake > Earth Power to hit not only Tyranitar harder, but especially SubCMRachi, as it will prevent a Stall war. Even though you like Life Orb on Reuniclus, I think that Leftovers would be very helpful, as it allows you to escape from many 2HKOs and turn them into 3HKOs. Now, on Terrakion, you could try out Frustration (or Return, I guess) > Rock Slide as it could help you out against some uncommon threats that resist Fight / Rock coverage (namely Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Toxicroak, and Gallade), though I guess this is based on preference mostly. I agree with the change from Quick Attack to Pursuit because you already have reliable STAB priority in Bullet Punch. Other than what I said, I can't really find any major threats to this team. Great team, and good luck!

If you want to cover the uncommon threats mentioned with Terakion then you should run Earthquake since it hits every single relevant poke mentioned for super effective damage except from Gallade which is the rarer from all the above.

[bubbly]

I've been experimenting around with this team on PO and the most effective change I've made is to use a Tinkerbell Celebi > Gastrodon (with Leaf Storm, TWave, Recover and HP Fire). Covers most of the relevant threats, lures and takes out Scizor (and Tyranitar sometimes if you lead with it vs sand teams) to help Reuniclus and Latios.

[HardCore]

This team is very good. The core is very solid while the offense is a powerful set. The only issues I see with the team is that you lack a spinner. This would slowly eat at your Gastrodon, Heatran, Scizor, and Terrakion, which is 66% of the team.

With an offensive core such as this however ripping apart the opponent's team through surprise of an offensive tran and LO latios.

Reun looks like jelly because it holds teams together! The Cm set is the best set for REUN in my opinion and it partners to the weaknesses of your team members.

Gastrodon being defensive is quite a surprise however. How exactly does your team handle LO latios with Draco Meteor? Unless you surprise the opponent with scarf terrakion ohkoing their latios after rocks and LO damage then I would say latios may give your team some problems. I'm curious to know how high your team got on the ladder.

[Harsha]

Yeah I guess everyone is correct; Earthquake is the better option.