The Dark Horse Project (HUGE Update Post #121) - Page 5

Lady Alex · Feb 20th, 2012, 8:52:31 PM

Glad I could help xD. Quite a unique team you made it into HoF with. Congrats!

Lucario_Guy · Feb 20th, 2012, 9:37:01 PM

I must seriously suck at Pokémon, cuz I can't even break 1300 on the Pokémon Online server, let alone the Smogon server. :(

Then here you have many of these folks qualifying for the freakin' hall of fame here.

Lady Alex · Feb 20th, 2012, 10:20:38 PM

What are you struggling with?

Zoap · Feb 20th, 2012, 10:34:33 PM

^ Yea it could be as simple as forgetting about certain Pokemon(there by having no checks) or not really having clear goal of what you want the team to accomplish. Some people just can't build teams, even if they are great battlers. There are always people to help let us know what seems to be the problem.

Pwnemon · Feb 20th, 2012, 10:43:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Zoap

Some people just can't build teams, even if they are great battlers.

Oh dear god this so much. Oftentimes the problem is not with your battling but your teambuilding. That's always been my weak point. I hope for your sake that this is you because teambuilding can be taught. Battling can be learned, but it'll have to be through the school of hard knocks. Where do you think your weak point is?

Seth Vilo · Feb 22nd, 2012, 11:27:18 AM

I'm getting in on this! It carries over to next month, right?

Pokemon Online Username: Seth Vilo DHorse
Hall of Fame Standing: --- (soon...)
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Sableye, Roserade
Current Ladder Standing: Fresh start

I had to breed with Cacturne for this... ouch...

Trololo!

lampeskaerm2 · Feb 22nd, 2012, 5:22:08 PM

My Spinda-team is #33 for the moment on the smogon server (about 1390 points). Screenshot and further comments will follow tomorrow.

soviet · Feb 22nd, 2012, 11:07:34 PM

Pokemon Online Username: teivos
Hall of Fame Standing:
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Rotom-C / Deoxys-D
Current Ladder Standing: 1000

**blarajan** · Feb 22nd, 2012, 11:09:02 PM

Pokemon Online Username: BIRKALSUCKS
Hall of Fame Standing:
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Rotom-C / Deoxys-D
Current Ladder Standing: 1000

Sgt. Fuckface · Feb 23rd, 2012, 3:33:46 PM

Pokemon Online Username: TOO POWERFUL 4 WORDS
Hall of Fame Standing: nah nigga
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: flygon
Current Ladder Standing: 1000

Boorego · Feb 23rd, 2012, 6:57:41 PM

Finally got around to actually posting my hall of fame registraion. Mew is such an awesome pokemon. Fun project, pretty cool idea for spreading the word about under-utilized pokemon, may try it again next month.

Pokemon Online Username:Booorego
Dark Horse Pokemon:Mew

Screenshot of Top 80 Ladder Ranking:

Dark Horse Pokemon Complete Set:(With a decription as well! Be warned, it is kinda long.)

...

Here's the team I used to get into the top 80 this time around, with brief descritions (don't worry, they aren't nearly as long as mew's was :D):

...

TL;DR Taunt-Wow Mew is a fantastic pokemon, try him out.

Feel free to ask me any questions you may have about this mew set or even just the team I ended up using.

**Pocket** · Feb 23rd, 2012, 9:46:41 PM

How did your Metagross fare? If Latis, Gengar, and Alakazam were giving you problems, wouldn't Pursuit > Bullet Punch be more ideal?

SlimMan · Feb 23rd, 2012, 10:21:08 PM

Caught Norovirus. Didn't get out of bed for 4 days. Said "fuck it, i'll do dark horse next month".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Pwnemon

Oh dear god this so much. Oftentimes the problem is not with your battling but your teambuilding. That's always been my weak point. I hope for your sake that this is you because teambuilding can be taught. Battling can be learned, but it'll have to be through the school of hard knocks. Where do you think your weak point is?

This is truly the story of my life. Pwnemon speaketh no lies.

lampeskaerm2 · Feb 25th, 2012, 6:02:50 PM

Hi, everyone. Here follows a screenshot of my peak so far (with Spinda):

...

However, I have lost a few battles in a row, including a loss to a team that included a Pikachu..

Vix · Feb 25th, 2012, 8:26:56 PM

Pokemon Online username: Vix (yay for not playing OU for who knows how long!)
Hall of fame status: if I ever get here I will be shocked
Dark horse pokemon currently working with : Flygon, manetric (technically wobbuffet as well but I may have to remove him later.)
Current ladder standing:1000

Edit: to above poster, At this rate you may be allowed to make an Ou spinda analysis.

***Delko**** · Feb 27th, 2012, 9:24:34 AM

Pokemon Online Username: -TroY-
Hall of Fame Standing: none
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Whimsicott (standard troll set)
Current Ladder Standing: 1000

team

Plusle · Feb 27th, 2012, 1:32:42 PM

Pokemon Online Username: Plusle-DH
Hall of Fame Standing: N/A
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Yanmega
Current Ladder Standing: 1000

Patolegend! · Feb 27th, 2012, 3:34:26 PM

Hmm... I registered last month for Nidoking, under the alt The Return of the King. This month I changed the alt to The King is Back, but never updated here cos I never thought I'd make top 80! however:

...

I've only gone and done it! Does it still count? If so, then I'll update the post with sets and the team.

Lady Alex · Feb 27th, 2012, 10:51:31 PM

Yeah, it still counts. Birkal said that you didn't have to start over if you were still working on the same pokemon you registered for last month.

Zoap · Feb 28th, 2012, 2:20:21 AM

So this is the update for my HoF run, this post will include:

~Replays
~Questionnaire from post 4
~Updated Screenshot of how far the team got
~MVP to LVP: With short explanation
~My general thoughts along with some other questions and answers I think are important.

So to start here are all of the replays I have, its about 30-35 or so and they're segregated into Wins/Losses(I thought I had more, after all this is about half of the 90 or so battles I did):

Replays:

Won:

...

Lost:
Questionnaire:

...

Updated Screenshot: *Rank 29(82 battles)

...

Dark Horse MVP-LVP:

...

My thoughts and any other questions:

...

(#): indicates when they were added to the team
*: I made 1409 in 91 battles but forgot to screenshot it, the rank was 27 but 29 is close enough.

***Birkal**** · Feb 29th, 2012, 6:16:27 PM

Hello, everyone!

To start things off, I'd like to offer up an apology. I haven't been as active with the Dark Horse Project as it deserves. When I was planning this project in December, I never would have dreamed that it would receive this much support and that we would learn so much from this. Unfortunately, my time has been pretty engulfed by work in the Dream World Project and the Create-a-Pokemon Project. However, I always envisioned the Dark Horse Project to go for three months so we could see what kind of a change one project could make on a metagame. The ladder will (I assume) be updating at the end of March; I'd like to see this project survive until then.

As a result, I am announcing the return of the Dark Horse Project in March. I want to finish the project up strong, so expect a lot more activity from me. However, you guys know that my workload for this has been pretty intense. That combined with my work in other areas of Smogon has lead to severely decreased activity from me.

That is why I'm also asking for some help. If you have any interest in co-leading the Dark Horse Project, please send me a PM. I currently am imagining about two to three co-leaders to help me out. Here's what I'm looking for:

Registered Participants Updater: This job, although it only take about 10-15 minutes a day, is tough. You'll be expected to go through the entire list of Registered Users on a consistent basis to make sure that everyone's forms are up to date. I have huge amounts of respect for anyone who'd be willing to do this job. You'd also be in charge of the counter!! Which is super fun. Hehe.
Hall of Fame Coordinator: Holding this position is a bit less strenuous than the above post; there aren't as many entrants to the Hall of Fame. However, I expect this person to not only update the Hall of Fame, but to talk and work with each of its members. The more information we can get from our Hall of Famers, the better. I'm looking for someone here that is both active and takes initiative.
Discussion Recorder: Your job would be to work with this post. You'd be doing things like asking questions for Dark Horse participants to fill out and recording their answers. I'm searching for someone who is creative and thoughtful for this position.

So! If you feel like you'd like to apply for any of those positions, send me a PM either today or tomorrow. Also, tell me a little bit about yourself! Who are you? What makes you think that you'd be right for the job? Are you willing to commit the necessary time?

Please don't be offended if I don't select you! The Dark Horse Project is my baby and I want to make sure that it is run at an excellent quality. Remember, if you get selected for a position, then you'll take over that respective post of the OP and you'll get to collaborate with me on the future of the project. You'll have captured my heart and the hearts of hundreds of Dark Horse fans as well. Also, if I ever decide to hand off the Dark Horse Project someday, working in one of these positions is good credit ;)

Thanks for reading and best of luck! Everyone, you still have a bit more time to ladder before this month's project is done. It will be ending at midnight on Thursday night, so you have over 24 hours to try to make the Hall of Fame for February. I just got done updating the Registered Participants list; I'll be working on finishing off the Hall of Fame tonight.

Patolegend! · Feb 29th, 2012, 7:07:07 PM

Right, better late than never! As stated yesterday I finally reached top 80 with Nidoking. He really is an awesome 'mon, with surprising power, and not-too-bad speed. Nobody seemed to expect him, and with paralysis support he can tear apart teams that don't have any of the two blobs.

Pokemon Online Username: The King is back
Dark Horse Pokemon: Nidoking

And the proof:

...

Dark Horse Set:

...

The team is based upon, well... almost exactly the same as an early form of the community create a team from last month to be honest. Many of the elements were already in place before that, but it really helped me out with covering the necessary weaknesses I had.

...

Just to prove Nidoking's boss, and to remove any credibility that I might ever gain on this forum, I also got into the top 80 with a fun team that took advantage of this powerful mon's strongest points under another alt, plain simple Patolegend.

Picture proof:

...

And the team:

...

How did you choose your Dark Horse Pokemon for this project?
I've always loved Nidoking since the early generations, but with his new ability he finally found the opportunity to shine. Fantastic coverage, beastly power - and nobody was prepared for him.

How did you go about building a team for your Dark Horse Pokemon?
I started off with a HO specially based team, but found that the King was useless. I then started to look at his main weakness, his speed, and started to build a paralysis based team. Jirachi came in, then Rotom to cover the ground weakness. I started using the sub-roost set on Dragonite, but missed the power of full on DD and outrage. Gengar came in as a spin-blocker and troll mon, and finally Virizion helped to take on rain teams, the blobs and hydration vaporeon.

The baton pass part was basic - with +2 spa modest Nido OHKO's everything apart from the blobs. I was fascinated by the ridiculousness of Espeon with magic bounce and stored power, and it went from there. (No skill involved!

)

Do you think it is more difficult or less difficult to ladder with a Dark Horse Pokemon? Why?

I think it depends on the team, but probably yeah. With the paralysis team Nido didn't always have a major role in the team, but other games he would destroy whole teams. Other special attackers could have fit his role better, and probably without so much support.

(For Hall of Fame members only) How did you reach the Hall of Fame?
A lot of luck, basically.... towards the end it got easier, once I was adapted to the team and got to know its strengths. Aggresive predictions helped along the way, taking out prominent team members before they caused major problems. O yeah, and rotom... without him it wouldn't have been possible.

Boorego · Mar 1st, 2012, 2:09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Pocket

How did your Metagross fare? If Latis, Gengar, and Alakazam were giving you problems, wouldn't Pursuit > Bullet Punch be more ideal?

I know this response is kinda late, considering it is march now and all, sorry for that. I'll try to be more quick with my responses next month. On to your question, I really like the metagross set . Even without pursuit he can counter thoese pokemon you mentioned for pretty much whole time that they stay alive for, although being set up bait for ALL of the spike users in OU is very annoying.
The main reasoning for bullet punch>pursuit is that I simply found bullet punch more useful on this team. Metagross is bulky enough to come in on pursuit’s targets multiple times (meaning I can safetly keep them under control throughout the match) and the team was pretty slow outside of landorous so having a somewhat powerful piority attack to finish off speedy attackers is very useful, heck being able to finish off latios, gengar and alakazam who stay in when expecting pursuit(very common once people see I'm specially defensive) without having to take an extra 30-40 percent of damage is nice. Although I have been considering switching out some pokemon for speedier pokemon so the speed issue may not be a problem for much longer, in which case pursuit does look alot more tempting, will probably give pursuit a second chance next month if I do make the changes, thanks for mentioning that.

About Last month's project:
I have one final little update about last month's mew team. I did manage to get to the top 50 a week or so ago.....but then was cruelly reminded why focus blast is one of the most hated moves in the game....multiple games in a row. Anyway I did make some pretty big changes to the team by then. So here's a final list of the team I was using then. I’m only gonna comment on the new pokemon and any pokemon that I have new things to talk about for.

...

***Birkal**** · Mar 1st, 2012, 8:32:01 PM

Hello, everyone!

Wow, I had a lot of excellent applications for co-leading the Dark Horse Project. Huge thanks to everyone who offered to step up to the plate. In the end, I've chosen two users to help me out. Pocket hardly needs an introduction. He's one of Dragonspiral Tower's most active posters; he earned his Community Contributor badge here! He's also an official Team Rater and can provide assistance in that medium to the topic. He'll be in charge of the Hall of Fame. I've also selected Mafeking to help me out with the Registered Participants. He has fantastic activity and is very thorough. He has currently completed over 50 GP for Smogon, wow! He's also a super nice guy, you should talk with him sometime if you get the chance. With these two helping me out, I'll have time to work on the "Discussion and Learning" section and actually getting hands on with users in terms of team building and helping. The new Dark Horse Project topic will most likely go up later tonight; keep posted! Thanks for reading =)

Plaid · Mar 17th, 2012, 5:01:15 AM

So I recently made a team using Gallade and Bisharp, which are both well under 5% in usage statistics, and started laddering on my alt account, Plaidtest. Then I found this thread, so can I register for Gallade and Bisharp?

Feb 20th, 2012, 9:37:01 PM	#102
Lucario_Guy Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 208 Poison Life, Poison Live!	I must seriously suck at Pokémon, cuz I can't even break 1300 on the Pokémon Online server, let alone the Smogon server. :( Then here you have many of these folks qualifying for the freakin' hall of fame here. __________________ I wish The Koffings had actual albums released, with music like this. Then my life would be complete. <3

Feb 22nd, 2012, 11:27:18 AM	#106
Seth Vilo Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 426 US East Coast	I'm getting in on this! It carries over to next month, right? Pokemon Online Username: Seth Vilo DHorse Hall of Fame Standing: --- (soon...) Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Sableye, Roserade Current Ladder Standing: Fresh start I had to breed with Cacturne for this... ouch... Roserade @ Leftovers Ability: Natural Cure EV's: 240 HP / 120 Def / 12 SpA / 136 SpD IV's: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk) -Spikes -Giga Drain -Hidden Power Fire -Rest Trololo! Sableye @ Leftovers Ability: Prankster EV's: 248 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD / 4 Spe IV's: 0 Atk / 0 SpA Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk) -Will-o-Wisp -Taunt -Recover -Foul Play __________________ This is a haiku. Sometimes haiku's do not rhyme. Refrigerator. Professional Lurker since March, 2009 (And it's Vilo: veye-low, like the i in pie) {Projects: How do I pronounce that Pokemon...?; ...}

Feb 22nd, 2012, 11:07:34 PM	#108
soviet Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 204 North Carolina	Pokemon Online Username: teivos Hall of Fame Standing: Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Rotom-C / Deoxys-D Current Ladder Standing: 1000 Last edited by soviet; Feb 22nd, 2012 at 11:21:58 PM.

Feb 22nd, 2012, 11:09:02 PM	#109
blarajan no abuse pls Moderator Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 2,723 Mentor	Pokemon Online Username: BIRKALSUCKS Hall of Fame Standing: Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Rotom-C / Deoxys-D Current Ladder Standing: 1000 __________________ Team Babby: Little Cup in Ubers RMT

Feb 23rd, 2012, 3:33:46 PM	#110
Sgt. Fuckface Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 20	Pokemon Online Username: TOO POWERFUL 4 WORDS Hall of Fame Standing: nah nigga Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: flygon Current Ladder Standing: 1000 __________________ Highest OU: #7 as bobalob Last edited by Sgt. Fuckface; Feb 23rd, 2012 at 4:13:38 PM.

Feb 20th, 2012, 8:52:31 PM	#101
Lady Alex So, I dashed all over the mansion, and I re-killed them; they were pretty alive when I found them Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 418 Stuck between a Stealth Rock and a hard place	Glad I could help xD. Quite a unique team you made it into HoF with. Congrats!

Feb 20th, 2012, 10:20:38 PM	#103
Lady Alex So, I dashed all over the mansion, and I re-killed them; they were pretty alive when I found them Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 418 Stuck between a Stealth Rock and a hard place	What are you struggling with?

Feb 20th, 2012, 10:34:33 PM	#104
Zoap Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 495 Antioch	^ Yea it could be as simple as forgetting about certain Pokemon(there by having no checks) or not really having clear goal of what you want the team to accomplish. Some people just can't build teams, even if they are great battlers. There are always people to help let us know what seems to be the problem.

Feb 22nd, 2012, 5:22:08 PM	#107
lampeskaerm2 Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 12	My Spinda-team is #33 for the moment on the smogon server (about 1390 points). Screenshot and further comments will follow tomorrow.

Feb 23rd, 2012, 6:57:41 PM	#111
Boorego Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 31	Finally got around to actually posting my hall of fame registraion. Mew is such an awesome pokemon. Fun project, pretty cool idea for spreading the word about under-utilized pokemon, may try it again next month. Pokemon Online Username:Booorego Dark Horse Pokemon:Mew Screenshot of Top 80 Ladder Ranking: Dark Horse Pokemon Complete Set:(With a decription as well! Be warned, it is kinda long.) ... Mew @ Leftovers Trait: Synchronize EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 98 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Softboiled - Psychic - Will-O-Wisp - Taunt Standard stall breaker set here, with enough speed evs to always outspeed adamant dragonite, letting you taunt or burn him before he can start setting up or smack you (this is paticuliarly helpful against dd lum nite as you don't need to reley on WOW hitting TWICE in a row) also lets you beat even the speed creepiest of defensive gliscor. Most people that use stall breaker mew end up agreeing that mew's a great pokemon that deserves more use than he gets. Stall breaker mew really lives up to his name, he can single handely destroy most defensive teams lacking a heatran or espeon (90% of all rain stall teams in other words). He is also an excellent counter to most of the fighting types in the tier, only cm virizon and nasty plot lucario can reliably beat taunt-wow mew. Unlike some other bulky psycic types like slowbro and latias, mew is not very easy to set hazards up against thanks to taunt. Aside from that mew is just an overall good physical wall that can be durable and very frusturating for the opponent to battle. He doen't beat every physical attacker in the tier but remains a solid check for things like landlous and dd mence. The biggest problems that this mew set faces are heatran , nasty plot celebi and WOW's awful accuracy. Lati@as and hydreigon also problem pokemon set to battle. Here's the team I used to get into the top 80 this time around, with brief descritions (don't worry, they aren't nearly as long as mew's was :D): ... Metagross @ Leftovers Trait: Clear Body EVs: 240 HP / 80 Atk / 168 SDef / 20 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Meteor Mash - Bullet Punch - Earthquake - Stealth Rock Bulky all around tank and stealth rock setter, his special defense evs let him battle lati@s, gengar and alakazam, all of whom can give mew trouble. Rotom-W @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 HP / 164 SAtk / 92 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Hidden Power [Fire] - Volt Switch - Toxic - Hydro Pump My main answer to mew’s biggest enemy, heatran. I’m running a more specially defensive spread in order to take water attacks from offensive rain teams better. Hidden power fire usually one shots scizor out of rain (also 2hkos unsuspecting ferrothorn), so this guy is probably my most reliable answer to scizor. Landorus (M) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Sand Force EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Stone Edge - Rock Slide - U-turn - Earthquake Standard set here, rock slide is run because I have much more effective ways of dealing with gliscor and I can’t afford to miss against a +1 volcorna, the attack is also handy for finishing off weakened gengar and dragonite. Tentacruel (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Liquid Ooze EVs: 220 HP / 244 SAtk / 44 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Ice Beam - Hydro Pump - Rapid Spin - Giga Drain Probably the “weak link” if I had to pick one. Still a decent pokemon on this team, gets rid of hazards, is another check to heatran, gengar and some hydreigon, giga drain lets me stick it to rotom and gastrodon. and helps take off some of the preassures of being a water resist of of rotom. I never tried it out but starmie seems like he’d be a fine replacement for this guy in theory. Cloyster (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Skill Link EVs: 248 HP / 84 Atk / 162 Def / 16 SDef Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd) - Icicle Spear - Ice Shard - Spikes - Surf Another Dark Horse Pokemon! This one joined the team a bit late to be in the hall of fame, though. Physically defensive cloyster is honestly not nearly a bad as you’d think a defensive grounded ice type would be......if you have rapid spin support. He 100% hard counters all physical dragons from dd nite to cb haxours and is a fantastic counter to thoese pesky gliscors and checks landorous. Mew @ Leftovers Trait: Synchronize EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 98 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Softboiled - Psychic - Will-O-Wisp - Taunt It’s the Dark Horse himself, Mew! I kinda went over mew’s perks and whatnot in the set description above. Just remember, mew is a supporter, and is often not the star of the show (although he has helped me come back from a great many games). On this team for example, his ability counter fighting types and prevent defensive pokemon that would gladly set up on cloyster,metagross and choice locked landlous form setting up makes him a wonderful asset to this team. TL;DR Taunt-Wow Mew is a fantastic pokemon, try him out. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have about this mew set or even just the team I ended up using.

Feb 23rd, 2012, 9:46:41 PM	#112
Pocket Bakuman ;< Moderator Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 7,179 Bergenfield	How did your Metagross fare? If Latis, Gengar, and Alakazam were giving you problems, wouldn't Pursuit > Bullet Punch be more ideal? __________________ Dark Horse Project: Conquer the Ladder! \| Word of Wisdom for Trainers \| Smogon Doubles: Let's Make It Official!

Feb 25th, 2012, 6:02:50 PM	#114
lampeskaerm2 Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 12	Hi, everyone. Here follows a screenshot of my peak so far (with Spinda): ... However, I have lost a few battles in a row, including a loss to a team that included a Pikachu..

Feb 25th, 2012, 8:26:56 PM	#115
Vix Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 83 MI	Pokemon Online username: Vix (yay for not playing OU for who knows how long!) Hall of fame status: if I ever get here I will be shocked Dark horse pokemon currently working with : Flygon, manetric (technically wobbuffet as well but I may have to remove him later.) Current ladder standing:1000 Edit: to above poster, At this rate you may be allowed to make an Ou spinda analysis. __________________ #1 Bayleef fan on Smogon WOO! current tier: LC and Ou (but I fail at Ou still...)

Feb 27th, 2012, 9:24:34 AM	#116
*Delko at the end of the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box Super Moderator** Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 2,961 Belgium Mentor	Pokemon Online Username: -TroY- Hall of Fame Standing: none Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Whimsicott (standard troll set) Current Ladder Standing: 1000 team Tyranitar (M) @ Shuca Berry Trait: Sand Stream EVs: 252 HP / 64 SAtk / 192 SDef Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd) - Stealth Rock - Earthquake - Ice Beam - Pursuit Salamence (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Intimidate EVs: 116 Atk / 216 SAtk / 176 Spd Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef) - Fire Blast - Draco Meteor - Roost - Earthquake Skarmory (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spd Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Spikes - Roost - Brave Bird - Whirlwind Whimsicott (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Prankster EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Encore - Leech Seed - Substitute - GrassWhistle Terrakion @ Choice Scarf Trait: Justified EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Stone Edge - Earthquake - Close Combat - X-Scissor Starmie @ Leftovers Trait: Natural Cure EVs: 168 HP / 108 SAtk / 232 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Scald - Psyshock - Rapid Spin - Recover Last edited by Delko; Feb 27th, 2012 at 10:21:11 AM.

Feb 27th, 2012, 1:32:42 PM	#117
Plusle Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 1,041	Pokemon Online Username: Plusle-DH Hall of Fame Standing: N/A Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Yanmega Current Ladder Standing: 1000 __________________ VGC 2011 Seniors UK 1st \| VGC 2012 Seniors UK 4th \| Worlds 2011 18th \| Worlds 2012 19th \| Winter Battle and International Challenge January Seniors 1st

Feb 27th, 2012, 3:34:26 PM	#118
Patolegend! Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 23	Hmm... I registered last month for Nidoking, under the alt The Return of the King. This month I changed the alt to The King is Back, but never updated here cos I never thought I'd make top 80! however: ... I've only gone and done it! Does it still count? If so, then I'll update the post with sets and the team.

Feb 27th, 2012, 10:51:31 PM	#119
Lady Alex So, I dashed all over the mansion, and I re-killed them; they were pretty alive when I found them Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 418 Stuck between a Stealth Rock and a hard place	Yeah, it still counts. Birkal said that you didn't have to start over if you were still working on the same pokemon you registered for last month. __________________

Feb 28th, 2012, 2:20:21 AM	#120
Zoap Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 495 Antioch	So this is the update for my HoF run, this post will include: ~Replays ~Questionnaire from post 4 ~Updated Screenshot of how far the team got ~MVP to LVP: With short explanation ~My general thoughts along with some other questions and answers I think are important. So to start here are all of the replays I have, its about 30-35 or so and they're segregated into Wins/Losses(I thought I had more, after all this is about half of the 90 or so battles I did): Replays: Won: ... sethwcat vs All Hail Da King2 Argorine vs All Hail Da King2 Darklol vs All Hail Da King2 mukkkk vs All Hail Da King2 melonhead vs All Hail Da King2 Duhlishuss vs All Hail Da King2 Highlevel vs All Hail Da King2 DarkSector vs All Hail Da King2 GreenTurtlez vs All Hail Da King2 Casey90 vs All Hail Da King2 Zephchmoche vs All Hail Da King2 Lost: ... Black Rebel Kain vs All Hail Da King2 TestingOnAltsSucks vs All Hail Da King2 Rino vs All Hail Da King2 Osyssus vs All Hail Da King2 HarryShumJr vs All Hail Da King2 Triherz vs All Hail Da King2 FrostFire vs All Hail Da King2 LokOoOoOoOH vs All Hail Da King2 DarkBlazer vs All Hail Da King2 ARRwhite vs All Hail Da King2 IMayEndUpFailing vs All Hail Da King2 Finally Famous vs All Hail Da King2 jrrrrrr vs All Hail Da King2 DarkOmega vs All Hail Da King2 Chokmi vs All Hail Da King2 TheLadderIsMine vs All Hail Da King2 Ishamael vs All Hail Da King2 Sorto vs All Hail Da King2 Golazol17 vs All Hail Da King2 makesjcrewupset vs All Hail Da King 2 gr8astard2 vs All Hail Da King2 ladderingislol vs All Hail Da King2 Nassenaco vs All Hail Da King2 Questionnaire: ... 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? I chose my Dark Horse Pokemon(s) based on my past success with Hail teams. At first I wanted to dabble in this project, so I looked at what I could place over my current roster(RMT here, made top 20 with the team) and I noticed that with Jynx's(1) new ability, she could function similar to Kyruem on my last team. Abomasnow(2) and Mamoswine(3) were part of my core of the last hail team, so they were the 2nd and 3rd dark horses added to my challenge Overall Jynx is a fantastic pokemon, who can run a plethora of sets, I chose the Choice Scarf set with STAB Blizzard/Psychic with Grass Knot for coverage. Lovely Kiss gives you plenty of potential to either set up or cripple a boosting threat. Mamoswine like Jynx is underrated, it can cripple the majority of weather, and has the ability to run multitude of sets. I chose a basic lead set with SR/Icicle Crash/EQ/Ice Shard. This allowed my Mamo to not only lead but come back and revenge kill with Ice Shard. Abomasnow is good, and like the other two can run so many sets it can be a pain to counter. I chose a bulky attacking version over SpA or Defensive. With Protect and leech seed, Abomasnow can often give valuable life back to teammates. He also served as my main check to Rotom-W(Rotom-W can't do much to it at all). 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? So I started with the basic core that helped me gain success with the last team: Abomasnow(2), Mamoswine(3) and Magnezone(4). Add in Jynx(1) and I was just looking for 2 more pokemon. Seeing that I was lacking a reliable Fire resist, I sought after a bulky water. Poliwrath(5) seemed like a logical choice as he has monster SpD and happens to counter Heatran, TTar and Scizor. After which I decided to shift to more defensive team focusing on a Jynx(1) clean up. Froslass(6) was chosen for her speed, ability to lay spikes, para support and destiny bond. At first things went well, went to around 1230 quickly, but then I started being worn down by hazzards of the other side. This lead me to re-evaluate my team, seeing as Jynx was my first choice I decided she would stay, I decided Poliwrath would be the best to replace and I chose Hitmontop(7). Since my team went from more offensive I decided Froslass was no longer needed and opted for Yanmega(8). 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? It definitely comes down to the player. I believe most Pokemon can have a niche in OU, it just depends on how well the player plays to their strengths. That said Jynx definitely throws people for loops, as many don't realize how much power she has with Modest, or how much speed she hits with a scarf. Not to mention that her new ability now allows her to absorb water attacks. That being said, these Pokemon often are placed in their respective tiers because their faults are easier to exploit then others. Harder players definitely we're better at playing around them than others. 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 steadily laddered to 1300 over a few days(4 if I remember correctly), I never played for more than 30-40 minutes and never when I first woke up/or was tired. As to the difficulty, it is pretty easy once you get into a "flow" as I call it. It seems like you're just making all the right plays, or if you aren't you are catching great breaks. Either way a DH wasn't a hindrance as if you build a team to support them and use their strengths then its like any other pokemon. My biggest advice is to never give up on a Pokemon, play to their strengths and build the support they need. Often your first choice is the one you really want to do well with. Next piece is don't be afraid to step back and look at what your team may need(even if it's not something you want to do: Using Voltturn, weather etc.), if you have trouble seeing your weak points don't hesitate ask other members(here especially!). What was the most challenging aspect of this project? What did you learn the most from your experience with Dark Horse Pokemon? How has your learning from this project changed the way you battle? I know this said non HoF members but I still think it is a good question for everyone.The final 50 points, from 1304 to 1354 was probably the scariest point of this challenge as I'm often afraid of tilting. Thanks to Lady Alex, I was able to sit through and power through the four wins I needed to reach the HoF. As to any change to my battling style, not really, I tend to be more aggressive in my predictions and I doubt anything will change that. *Updated Screenshot: Rank 29(82 battles) ... Dark Horse MVP-LVP: ... Mamoswine (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Snow Cloak EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Ice Shard - Icicle Crash - Earthquake - Stealth Rock So why Mamoswine? Well he saved me at least 20 times while laddering. Whether through Snow Cloak, Ice Shard, or just his ability to clean up late game. He also provided the SR which was greatly appreciated. Jynx (F) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Dry Skin EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Lovely Kiss - Psychic - Blizzard - Grass Knot Jynx is a monster, and if it weren't for Mamoswine beasting his way through teams single handily, she would have been the top contender. Blizzard was great for nailing everything, and I mean everything. Can we say 35% on Forretress. Abomasnow (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Snow Warning EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SDef Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Protect - Leech Seed - Seed Bomb - Ice Shard Abomasnow is not really my LVP, he just happened to be least impressive. He set up Hail, provided life support with LS, and overall was a defensive pivot. He was a necessity but rarely showed me the "WOW" factor. My thoughts and any other questions:** ... The only question I think that might warrant an addition to the questionnaire is: Why did you choose the replacement you chose(if you replaced any Dark Horse)? Did you see improvement right away or were further tweaks needed? This project is great and I cannot wait till next month, where I will choose a whole new team and strategy to implement(I already have some interesting ideas XD). Overall I'm glad this was started and that I got involved, big thanks to Birkal for starting this, Lady Alex for providing some helpful advice and Smogon for just being awesome. Right now I'm sitting around 1300 after some major tilting(don't play for more than an hour!), so I'm done with this team now. Should I write an RMT? If anyone has any questions or advice they'd like me to answer feel free to VM me. (#): indicates when they were added to the team *: I made 1409 in 91 battles but forgot to screenshot it, the rank was 27 but 29 is close enough.

Feb 29th, 2012, 6:16:27 PM	#121
*Birkal We have the technology. Super Moderator** Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 3,005 The Mentor	Hello, everyone! To start things off, I'd like to offer up an apology. I haven't been as active with the Dark Horse Project as it deserves. When I was planning this project in December, I never would have dreamed that it would receive this much support and that we would learn so much from this. Unfortunately, my time has been pretty engulfed by work in the Dream World Project and the Create-a-Pokemon Project. However, I always envisioned the Dark Horse Project to go for three months so we could see what kind of a change one project could make on a metagame. The ladder will (I assume) be updating at the end of March; I'd like to see this project survive until then. As a result, I am announcing the return of the Dark Horse Project in March. I want to finish the project up strong, so expect a lot more activity from me. However, you guys know that my workload for this has been pretty intense. That combined with my work in other areas of Smogon has lead to severely decreased activity from me. That is why I'm also asking for some help. If you have any interest in co-leading the Dark Horse Project, please send me a PM. I currently am imagining about two to three co-leaders to help me out. Here's what I'm looking for: Registered Participants Updater: This job, although it only take about 10-15 minutes a day, is tough. You'll be expected to go through the entire list of Registered Users on a consistent basis to make sure that everyone's forms are up to date. I have huge amounts of respect for anyone who'd be willing to do this job. You'd also be in charge of the counter!! Which is super fun. Hehe. Hall of Fame Coordinator: Holding this position is a bit less strenuous than the above post; there aren't as many entrants to the Hall of Fame. However, I expect this person to not only update the Hall of Fame, but to talk and work with each of its members. The more information we can get from our Hall of Famers, the better. I'm looking for someone here that is both active and takes initiative. Discussion Recorder: Your job would be to work with this post. You'd be doing things like asking questions for Dark Horse participants to fill out and recording their answers. I'm searching for someone who is creative and thoughtful for this position. So! If you feel like you'd like to apply for any of those positions, send me a PM either today or tomorrow. Also, tell me a little bit about yourself! Who are you? What makes you think that you'd be right for the job? Are you willing to commit the necessary time? Please don't be offended if I don't select you! The Dark Horse Project is my baby and I want to make sure that it is run at an excellent quality. Remember, if you get selected for a position, then you'll take over that respective post of the OP and you'll get to collaborate with me on the future of the project. You'll have captured my heart and the hearts of hundreds of Dark Horse fans as well. Also, if I ever decide to hand off the Dark Horse Project someday, working in one of these positions is good credit ;) Thanks for reading and best of luck! Everyone, you still have a bit more time to ladder before this month's project is done. It will be ending at midnight on Thursday night, so you have over 24 hours to try to make the Hall of Fame for February. I just got done updating the Registered Participants list; I'll be working on finishing off the Hall of Fame tonight. __________________

Feb 29th, 2012, 7:07:07 PM	#122
Patolegend! Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 23	Right, better late than never! As stated yesterday I finally reached top 80 with Nidoking. He really is an awesome 'mon, with surprising power, and not-too-bad speed. Nobody seemed to expect him, and with paralysis support he can tear apart teams that don't have any of the two blobs. Pokemon Online Username: The King is back Dark Horse Pokemon: Nidoking And the proof: ... Dark Horse Set: ... Nidoking @ Life Orb Trait: Sheer Force EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SpA / 4 HP Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Flamethrower - Earth Power - Ice Beam - Thunderbolt Standard set here, he just offers ridiculous super effective coverage and power. His downfalls are his bulk and speed, but with paralysis support one of these is not a problem. People underestimate his speed, with many a heatran and gliscor getting taken aback when they recieve a x4 move to the face. The team is based upon, well... almost exactly the same as an early form of the community create a team from last month to be honest. Many of the elements were already in place before that, but it really helped me out with covering the necessary weaknesses I had. ... Gengar (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Shadow Ball - Substitute - Pain Split - Focus Blast Not always the lead, but a very important offensive player in the team. This set is normally difficult to handle, but I found it was overly reliant on Focus Miss to beat mons such as Tyrannitar. I did try taking him out and putting Latias in as per other members suggestions, but put him back in shortly after. My main check to Deoxys D, Mew, and Reuniclus. Dragonite (M) @ Lum Berry Trait: Multiscale EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Dragon Dance - Outrage - Fire Punch - ExtremeSpeed Soooo much power. With Lum I could afford to risk a burn from rotom to get the DD in, then pretty much gg. One of the most popular mons in the metagame at the minute, which itself is a problem - everyone's prepared for it, and it rarely ransacked teams as I hoped it might. Still though, if you let it set up, it'll tear you apart - that outrage Jirachi @ Leftovers Trait: Serene Grace EVs: 252 HP / 240 SDef / 16 Spd Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Iron Head - Body Slam - Wish - Stealth Rock A mon I hated facing with other teams in the past - its just unfair. With a bit of luck, this is almost unstoppable, and saved me many a game. One of the two mons that provide the much needed paralysis for nidoking, the stealth rocker for the team, and the cleric. Virizion @ Lum Berry Trait: Justified EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Swords Dance - Leaf Blade - Close Combat - Stone Edge Possibly the weakest element of the team, but key resistances and the fact that everyone seems to think it's specially based led it to keeping its place. Lum helps against breloom and the blobs, but I did notice the drop in power over the life orb that I had beforehand. Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Sheer Force EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Earth Power - Thunderbolt - Ice Beam - Flamethrower The King.... the legend. Rotom-W @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SAtk Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Hydro Pump - Volt Switch - Thunder Wave - Pain Split The glue that held the team together. Paralysis, pain split, and massive defense let him paralyze major threats to the team for Nidoking to finish off. Just to prove Nidoking's boss, and to remove any credibility that I might ever gain on this forum, I also got into the top 80 with a fun team that took advantage of this powerful mon's strongest points under another alt, plain simple Patolegend. Picture proof: ... And the team: ... Ninjask (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Speed Boost EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef / 4 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Swords Dance - Baton Pass - Protect - Substitute Vaporeon (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Water Absorb EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Baton Pass - Substitute - Wish - Scald Scizor (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Technician EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Baton Pass - Iron Defense - Bullet Punch - Bug Bite Espeon (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Magic Bounce EVs: 248 HP / 36 SAtk / 224 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Calm Mind - Baton Pass - Stored Power - Hidden Power [Fighting] Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Sheer Force EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Earth Power - Ice Beam - Flamethrower - Thunderbolt Cloyster (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Skill Link EVs: 48 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 204 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Icicle Spear - Rock Blast - Razor Shell - Shell Smash Hell yeah, a BATON PASS TEAM, without smeargle or smash pass. Cloyster's a boss - with +4 attack he OHKO's everything. Noobish, unskilled, this team has caused many a ragequit, and yet has been pretty successful. How did you choose your Dark Horse Pokemon for this project? I've always loved Nidoking since the early generations, but with his new ability he finally found the opportunity to shine. Fantastic coverage, beastly power - and nobody was prepared for him. How did you go about building a team for your Dark Horse Pokemon? I started off with a HO specially based team, but found that the King was useless. I then started to look at his main weakness, his speed, and started to build a paralysis based team. Jirachi came in, then Rotom to cover the ground weakness. I started using the sub-roost set on Dragonite, but missed the power of full on DD and outrage. Gengar came in as a spin-blocker and troll mon, and finally Virizion helped to take on rain teams, the blobs and hydration vaporeon. The baton pass part was basic - with +2 spa modest Nido OHKO's everything apart from the blobs. I was fascinated by the ridiculousness of Espeon with magic bounce and stored power, and it went from there. (No skill involved! ) Do you think it is more difficult or less difficult to ladder with a Dark Horse Pokemon? Why? I think it depends on the team, but probably yeah. With the paralysis team Nido didn't always have a major role in the team, but other games he would destroy whole teams. Other special attackers could have fit his role better, and probably without so much support. (For Hall of Fame members only) How did you reach the Hall of Fame? A lot of luck, basically.... towards the end it got easier, once I was adapted to the team and got to know its strengths. Aggresive predictions helped along the way, taking out prominent team members before they caused major problems. O yeah, and rotom... without him it wouldn't have been possible.

Mar 1st, 2012, 8:32:01 PM	#124
*Birkal We have the technology. Super Moderator** Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 3,005 The Mentor	Hello, everyone! Wow, I had a lot of excellent applications for co-leading the Dark Horse Project. Huge thanks to everyone who offered to step up to the plate. In the end, I've chosen two users to help me out. Pocket hardly needs an introduction. He's one of Dragonspiral Tower's most active posters; he earned his Community Contributor badge here! He's also an official Team Rater and can provide assistance in that medium to the topic. He'll be in charge of the Hall of Fame. I've also selected Mafeking to help me out with the Registered Participants. He has fantastic activity and is very thorough. He has currently completed over 50 GP for Smogon, wow! He's also a super nice guy, you should talk with him sometime if you get the chance. With these two helping me out, I'll have time to work on the "Discussion and Learning" section and actually getting hands on with users in terms of team building and helping. The new Dark Horse Project topic will most likely go up later tonight; keep posted! Thanks for reading =) __________________

Mar 17th, 2012, 5:01:15 AM	#125
Plaid Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 26	So I recently made a team using Gallade and Bisharp, which are both well under 5% in usage statistics, and started laddering on my alt account, Plaidtest. Then I found this thread, so can I register for Gallade and Bisharp?