The Dark Horse Project IV - Page 10

ganj4lF · Oct 8th, 2012, 4:31:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Lady Alex

Updated my post. Stole mew from whoever made it.

I had a feeling that my record won't last long after seeing the new rules; good job anyway, I had my moment of glory and that's enough xD

Broken Wing · Oct 8th, 2012, 5:54:33 PM

Pokemon Showdown! Username: Raw Power
Hall of Fame Standing: none
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Porygon2
Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown!: 1935 ± 62

Specially defensive porygon 2 is has been pretty good at cheeking all most all special threats in the game right now. Almost to bronze, hope I can make it further.

**Pocket** · Oct 8th, 2012, 6:03:25 PM

Much blood has been shed in the past day... ninelol lost his Rotom-H to scampy, and ganj4lf has been dropped out of HoF ;-; (don't give up!), because of Lady Alex.

However, I'd really like to applaud Molk, a double-platinum HoFer! That is probably the greatest accomplishment second to becoming a Grandmaster >:D

alkinesthetase · Oct 8th, 2012, 6:41:35 PM

Hey dhp-posting from phone. Internet has been on the blink at home, so I'll update when I get back to residence at 22:00 edt. Keep up the laddering!

Lavos Spawn · Oct 8th, 2012, 6:56:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Pocket

Much blood has been shed in the past day... ninelol lost his Rotom-H to scampy, and ganj4lf has been dropped out of HoF ;-; (don't give up!), because of Lady Alex.

However, I'd really like to applaud Molk, a double-platinum HoFer! That is probably the greatest accomplishment second to becoming a Grandmaster >:D

oh yes, shed the blood of my competitors while I observe from the throne of a grandmaster...

thanks for your constant vigilance in keeping the HoF/signups list updated, guys

Lady Alex · Oct 8th, 2012, 7:27:10 PM

Are we allowed to have more than 1 sign-up active at a time?

alkinesthetase · Oct 8th, 2012, 10:15:16 PM

well that sucked, stupid bus was like 15 minutes behind schedule and highway traffic at 9pm from toronto to waterloo is WAY worse than people would expect... but i am finally back and have updated the thread!

lady alex: hmm i don't see why not so i'll accommodate it, although i also don't see why you'd be laddering with two dark horses separately and simultaneously.

and lol lavos has a point, he HAS been gm for a while. nobody going to make a run on his throne? nobody?

Lady Alex · Oct 8th, 2012, 11:54:19 PM

Ok, great. I'll go ahead and sign up then. I'm satisfied with three runs, so this is more for giggles than anything else at this point.

Pokemon Showdown! Username: Bloody Princess
Hall of Fame Standing: Platinum
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Chandelure
Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown!: None

Pokemon Showdown! Username: Empress Alexandria
Hall of Fame Standing: Platinum
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Suicune, Deoxys-D
Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown!: None

The Great Mighty Doom · Oct 9th, 2012, 2:15:55 AM

Ok, I'm here to dethrone Lavos. Lgi!

Pokemon Showdown! Username: Kasugami
Hall of Fame Standing: Platinum
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Dog (Stoutland)
Current Ladder Standing: 2412

Screenshot

The team I used

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 made this team back during round 1 of The World Cup Of Pokemon and I got the core of Stoutland (as the main sweeper) & Magnezone (traps steels that resist Stoutland's STAB) from my friend: Ripamon. The core works amazingly and I instantly fell in love with Stoutland, with it's 518 speed under the sand - which outspeeds pretty much the entire metagame - it's ridiculous power, bulk and decent coverage; Stoutland can spell doom for any team. I decided to use it for this challenge because I was able to easily adapt the team to function well in the BW2 metagame and this team has quickly become my favourite team ever.

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?

Well, outside of Magnezone to trap steels, A sand inducer was essential to Stoutland's success. I had a choice between Hippowdon and Tyranitar, but I chose Hippowdon because Tyranitar gave me bad synergy, as it would just give me a 3rd pokemon weak to fighting, but the main reason is: Hippowdon is a much more reliable sand inducer than Tyranitar, because of it's reliable recovery move, superior defensive typing and not being trapped by Dugtrio.

I definetly needed some water resists, I chose Specially Defensive Rotom-W, because not only did it resist water and hit water types back with it's super-effective Volt Switch but it also checked / countered half the biggest threats in the current metagame and it's easily the second best Tornadus-t counter, second only to Specially Defensive Jirachi. Specially Defensive Rotom-W was the most amazing set I've ever used and it just functions so well in the current metagame. I still felt like a I needed another water resist, because a few pokemon, such as Keldeo, were a bit too much for Rotom-W to handle alone and something to check sun would be great. I chose Latias, it meets all the criteria and it took advantage of Magnezone's steel-type removing capabilities, letting it spam Draco Meteor to its heart's content.

Lastly, I needed some sort of wall breaker to aid Stoutland, my team was also rather weak to a few pokes like Breloom, even with Latias and Sleep Talk on Magnezone I at least needed one more check. Things like Sub Toxic Gliscor were a pain and if I managed to somehow lose Hippowdon to a weather team and lose the weather war, dragons didn't have much trouble sweeping the rest of my team, as I lose the speed needed for my revenge killer (Stoutland) and Hippowdon was the only thing that can tank multiple hits. I decided to use Mamoswine and it worked perfectly and the team was born. This was a very quick version of how I made the team, but I will be making an RMT of this team sometime in the forseeable future if you're interested in a much more in depth look.

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?

Tbh, I almost always build around a "dark horse" pokemon when making new teams, this is because when using standard, run of the mill pokemon and sets in tourney battles you have no tricks up your sleeve, no suprise factor. If you lack these important elements in your teams you'll often find the battle's outcome being decided by hax and team matchup. Although the ladder's different from tourney battles, I pretty much only ever make teams for tourney battles... yeah. To answer the question: for the most part I find battling with dark horse pokemon easier, but they're both pretty equal, using a dark horse pokemon has suprise factor whereas the standard, commonly used pokemon are used often for a reason, but there's always a few underrated pokemon down in the depths of the usage list that can destroy everything with enough support.

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?

Reaching the hall of fame was rather easy for me and I was really amazed with the sheer brilliance of Stoutland as well as a few other amazing pokemon I discoverd along the way, eg. Tank Latias & Specially Defensive Rotom-W. The best advice I can give to anyone trying to get to the top with their Dark Horse pokemon is to not go out of your way to try and make a lower tier pokemon work in ou, test some stuff out and then use something you know can function well in OU.

scampy · Oct 9th, 2012, 7:02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat scampy

Update! I think I make bronze?

Pokemon Showdown! Username: Super Tofu Boy
Hall of Fame Standing: Bronze
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Rotom-H, Blastoise, Celebi
Current Ladder Standing: 1983, 90, 2076 ± 66 (34th place), Wins: 30, Losses: 4

...

For the curious, here is the team I have been using.

...

This is actually quite a consistent team, I'll definitely ladder further if I have the time. I'm cashing my chips in now just in case I become too busy : )

I'd like to answer Birkal's list of questions, too. A big thanks to him, alkinesthetase, and everyone else involved in the project. It's a lot of fun. : )

...

DarkBlazeR · Oct 9th, 2012, 8:28:34 AM

Made platinum! :D

Pokemon Showdown! Username: Aoraki
Dark Horse Pokemon: Victini & Cresselia
Screenshot of Top 100 Ladder Ranking:

...

Dark Horse Pokemon Complete Sets:

Victini @ Choice Band
Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spd
Adamant Nature
- V-Create
- Fusion Bolt
- U-turn
- Brick Break

Despite the success of Gamester's and Lavos' sun teams, Victini still hasn't really caught on with the general OU community yet, which perplexes me. Victini's V-Create is bar none the strongest attack in the game. Unless your name is Heatran or Politoed, prepare for a hurting.

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Moonlight

This beauty can wall entire teams once their Tyranitar/Scizor/Genesect is dead. Cresselia is an incredible Pokemon on sun teams as it hard-counters many of the biggest threats to them, such as DDNite and RP Landorus-I.

Note: I had updated my original post with the change - the registration list still has me listed as State Angel using Sawsbuck.

EDIT: Here's the full team.

...

Master of the Six Kings · Oct 9th, 2012, 10:31:08 AM

^Glad i didnt get too far with Victini than. Ugh.

Pokemon Showdown! Username: SwampMage
Hall of Fame Standing: None
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Swampert, Mismagius
Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown! Notta

Eranu · Oct 9th, 2012, 11:53:28 AM

Pokemon Showdown! Username: VwCaddy
Hall of Fame Standing: Bronze
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Ambipom
Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown!: None.

alexwolf · Oct 9th, 2012, 11:59:34 AM

Pokemon Showdown! Username: Burning Water
Hall of Fame Standing: None
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Rotom-H, Amoonguss
Current Ladder Standing: 1000
__________________

Myzozoa · Oct 9th, 2012, 1:02:13 PM

Pokemon Showdown! Username: Venemoth Pwns You
Hall of Fame Standing: IDK what this is, halp.
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Venemoth and Mew, who uses Hydreigon seriously.
Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown!: 0, since i haven't started yet

I may not have read the OP.

alexwolf · Oct 9th, 2012, 1:07:06 PM

Alakazam and Hydreigon cannot be chosen because they have more than 5% usage.

alkinesthetase · Oct 9th, 2012, 1:08:33 PM

^ lol myzo =P alaka and hydreigon aren't dark horses (hoo boy not even close) but venomoth obviously is and so is mew, so i'll take it. quick summary in case you didn't read the 4 OPs: hall of fame is for anyone who achieves a certain rank on PS OU leaderboard, and a certain glicko2 rating. only one of each dark horse can be in the hall of fame at a given time, and thus only one user of that horse as well. if you beat someone else's ladder peak and ranking with a dark horse that they hall-of-famed, you will take the hall of fame position from them.

**Molk** · Oct 9th, 2012, 2:05:14 PM

Venomoth is cool and all but every team ive made falls apart when venomoth dies so im changing my dark horse.... for now :3. Plus, ive always wanted to try this guy

Pokemon Showdown! Username: GOML HAXORUS
Hall of Fame Standing: Platinum
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Darmanitan
Current Ladder Standing: none yet

calcs for fun

band kyurem-B outrage vs max/max+ gliscor: 723 Atk vs 383 Def & 354 HP (120 Base Power): 244 - 288 (68.93% - 81.36%)

sheer force boosted band darmanitan flare blitz vs max/max+ gliscor: 624 Atk vs 383 Def & 354 HP (160 Base Power): 280 - 330 (79.10% - 93.22%)

Free kyurem-B, enslave darmanitan

TropiOUs · Oct 9th, 2012, 2:09:31 PM

Metang is really bad and makes me lose because 5 fillers(at least Ambipom allowed me to set up with mence), so scrapping that alt and trying something new that has been on my must try list for a long time.

Pokemon Showdown! Username: Geppetto
Hall of Fame Standing: Silver
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Shiftry
Current Ladder Standing: none yet

Eranu · Oct 9th, 2012, 3:38:14 PM

Updated my first post. Got a little higher with deoxys-d. I'll try to make it higher later.
Also, i noticed a lot of teams aren't in the right 'color' since i thought you had to make top 10 for platinum class and top 50 for silver.

alkinesthetase · Oct 9th, 2012, 3:55:57 PM

^ the plan pocket's taken for hof is that the user, and all their dark horses, will be dropped in the highest tier that the user has reached so far, so for example molk has made plat like twice thus ALL his horses will be in the plat section. he only made gold with weavile but we'll leave it up there as well because it was molk's horse (i think pocket colored the names of weavile and what not in the gold tier color to indicate that they were technically of a lower rank)

however if there are any users whose highest-tiered horse's recorded peaks actually do not match up with where they've been placed, please drop us a line so we can look into correcting it!

EDIT: @ uvood, anything is up for grabs if you're willing to ladder with it far enough. the current holder of celebi is molk, who's made plat with it (check his peak on the hof page). if you can beat his peak, celebi is yours, so it's up to you

Uvood · Oct 9th, 2012, 3:59:00 PM

Oki, Articuno is finally being dropped. I managed to get above 1700 ranking with my Swampert and Articuno team, but it became incresingly more difficult to keep stealth rock down as I got higher. I changed up the team a bit, but Articuno is only decent, no way of getting around that fact. Its too hard walled by Heatran if you don't opt for Hidden Power Ground, and hidden power ground's only use is against Heatran, because Hurricane is more powerful in every other scenario. The most used steel types are Gene and Scizor. which you will be hurricaning regardless. Not to mention how slow Articuno is, which really sets it back. Though I'm happy with how far I did get before I dropped it.

Swampert however is another story. Swampert is really good, with choice band, he hits surprisingly hard. He is also a great switch in to Tyranitar(who he 1hkos with three of his moves). Only problem is prediction of course, but that's the case with any choiced pokemon. Swampert I definitely recommend, he's hits hard and can take quite alot of hits before going down, as long as you play carefully with him.

Is Celebi up for grabs btw? I'd love to take my fav poke through this challenge if it is, I already have a team ready for it :)

FastFlygon · Oct 9th, 2012, 4:09:15 PM

New signup post since I'm switching horse and name:
Pokemon Showdown! Username: -273.15c
Hall of Fame Standing: None. (Yet!)
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Lapras
Current Ladder Standing: 1906 88 2020 ± 81 (provisional) 21-5-0
EDIT so I was doing excellent, up to Bronze ranking but I then lost to a bullshit baton pass team and dropped a ridiculous number of points. Will try to get back, but this isn't doing anything but strengthening my hatred of Spore...
EDIT 2: Sigh... 3 games in a row +1 for winning... I really don't know how people get so high when things are stacked so heavily against you past the first few matches...

Lady Alex · Oct 9th, 2012, 4:28:00 PM

@Uvood- aww, I was really rooting for your success with Articuno. Did you try running dugtrio on your team to mitigate Articuno's Heatran weakness?

Uvood · Oct 9th, 2012, 4:56:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Lady Alex

@Uvood- aww, I was really rooting for your success with Articuno. Did you try running dugtrio on your team to mitigate Articuno's Heatran weakness?

No, was running it on a rain team, so it was supposed be a what kept Heatran at bay. Though Articuno's real problem is either finding a free turn for Agility and being so slow. I kinda asked myself, why not use Tornadus? Not such a severe weakness to Stealth rock, more speed and a much easier to spam Hurricane, that is also more powerful. Not to say I Articuno did not work, but there are just better options, it's outclassed at sub roosting by Moltres, sub Hurricane by Moltres and at sweeping it's outclassed by Tornadus.

That's not even mentioning that Articuno is murdered by Scizor without substitute XD. You really should be using either Moltres or Tornadus for Hurricane spam(or Volc), Moltres is also walled by Heatran, but can take on other Steel types quite well, not to mention being good against sun teams, being able to switch in on things. Articuno is so difficult to get into play, due to basically no resist's. It has ground immunity, but what earthquake user does not have stone edge?

Though, as I mentioned, Swampert is awesome, some of the players I went up against got real confused when it was in play XD.

If you wanna mess around with the team I used, I can give it to you :). It was by no means perfect, Dugtrio might be able to help out.

This became a nice little wall lol XD. Tldr: stealth rock and low speed screws with Articuno's chances at being any better than decent in OU, you are usually better of using something else for Hurricane spamming, for Sub roost toxic stall, Zapdos or Moltres does it better due to better speed.

Edit: thank you for rooting for me though :D. I did get decently high up ^^.

Oct 8th, 2012, 6:03:25 PM	#228
Pocket Bakuman ;< Moderator Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 7,160 Bergenfield	Much blood has been shed in the past day... ninelol lost his Rotom-H to scampy, and ganj4lf has been dropped out of HoF ;-; (don't give up!), because of Lady Alex. However, I'd really like to applaud Molk, a double-platinum HoFer! That is probably the greatest accomplishment second to becoming a Grandmaster >:D __________________ Dark Horse Project: Conquer the Ladder! \| Word of Wisdom for Trainers \| Smogon Doubles: Let's Make It Official!

Oct 8th, 2012, 6:41:35 PM	#229
alkinesthetase <MrE> SPIDERS /\/\;,,;/\/\ Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 695 <ala> canadabros is the strongest bros you can be Mentor	Hey dhp-posting from phone. Internet has been on the blink at home, so I'll update when I get back to residence at 22:00 edt. Keep up the laddering! __________________ <%yee> i will summon a spider to kill alkines my massive mafia roles list

Oct 8th, 2012, 7:27:10 PM	#231
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	Are we allowed to have more than 1 sign-up active at a time? __________________

Oct 8th, 2012, 10:15:16 PM	#232
alkinesthetase <MrE> SPIDERS /\/\;,,;/\/\ Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 695 <ala> canadabros is the strongest bros you can be Mentor	well that sucked, stupid bus was like 15 minutes behind schedule and highway traffic at 9pm from toronto to waterloo is WAY worse than people would expect... but i am finally back and have updated the thread! lady alex: hmm i don't see why not so i'll accommodate it, although i also don't see why you'd be laddering with two dark horses separately and simultaneously. and lol lavos has a point, he HAS been gm for a while. nobody going to make a run on his throne? nobody? __________________ <%yee> i will summon a spider to kill alkines my massive mafia roles list

Oct 8th, 2012, 11:54:19 PM	#233
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	Ok, great. I'll go ahead and sign up then. I'm satisfied with three runs, so this is more for giggles than anything else at this point. Pokemon Showdown! Username: Bloody Princess Hall of Fame Standing: Platinum Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Chandelure Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown!: None Pokemon Showdown! Username: Empress Alexandria Hall of Fame Standing: Platinum Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Suicune, Deoxys-D Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown!: None __________________ Last edited by Lady Alex; Oct 31st, 2012 at 12:41:22 AM.

Oct 8th, 2012, 5:54:33 PM	#227
Broken Wing Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 325	Pokemon Showdown! Username: Raw Power Hall of Fame Standing: none Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Porygon2 Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown!: 1935 ± 62 Specially defensive porygon 2 is has been pretty good at cheeking all most all special threats in the game right now. Almost to bronze, hope I can make it further.

Oct 9th, 2012, 2:15:55 AM	#234
The Great Mighty Doom Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 592 New Zealand	Ok, I'm here to dethrone Lavos. Lgi! Pokemon Showdown! Username: Kasugami Hall of Fame Standing: Platinum Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Dog (Stoutland) Current Ladder Standing: 2412 Screenshot The team I used Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sand Stream EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef Impish Nature - Stealth Rock - Earthquake - Whirlwind - Slack Off Dog (Stoutland) (M) @ Choice Band Trait: Sand Rush EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd Adamant Nature - Return - Superpower - Wild Charge - Pursuit Magnezone @ Choice Specs Trait: Magnet Pull EVs: 148 HP / 252 SAtk / 108 Spd Modest Nature IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spe - Volt Switch - Sleep Talk - Hidden Power [Fire] - Flash Cannon Rotom-W @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate EVs: 248 HP / 32 SAtk / 228 SDef Calm Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Volt Switch - Hydro Pump - Pain Split - Will-O-Wisp Latias (F) @ Life Orb Trait: Levitate EVs: 152 HP / 172 SAtk / 184 Spd Modest Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Draco Meteor - Psyshock - Surf - Recover Mamoswine (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Thick Fat EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd Jolly Nature IVs: 29 HP - Ice Shard - Icicle Spear - Earthquake - Superpower 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 made this team back during round 1 of The World Cup Of Pokemon and I got the core of Stoutland (as the main sweeper) & Magnezone (traps steels that resist Stoutland's STAB) from my friend: Ripamon. The core works amazingly and I instantly fell in love with Stoutland, with it's 518 speed under the sand - which outspeeds pretty much the entire metagame - it's ridiculous power, bulk and decent coverage; Stoutland can spell doom for any team. I decided to use it for this challenge because I was able to easily adapt the team to function well in the BW2 metagame and this team has quickly become my favourite team ever. 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? Well, outside of Magnezone to trap steels, A sand inducer was essential to Stoutland's success. I had a choice between Hippowdon and Tyranitar, but I chose Hippowdon because Tyranitar gave me bad synergy, as it would just give me a 3rd pokemon weak to fighting, but the main reason is: Hippowdon is a much more reliable sand inducer than Tyranitar, because of it's reliable recovery move, superior defensive typing and not being trapped by Dugtrio. I definetly needed some water resists, I chose Specially Defensive Rotom-W, because not only did it resist water and hit water types back with it's super-effective Volt Switch but it also checked / countered half the biggest threats in the current metagame and it's easily the second best Tornadus-t counter, second only to Specially Defensive Jirachi. Specially Defensive Rotom-W was the most amazing set I've ever used and it just functions so well in the current metagame. I still felt like a I needed another water resist, because a few pokemon, such as Keldeo, were a bit too much for Rotom-W to handle alone and something to check sun would be great. I chose Latias, it meets all the criteria and it took advantage of Magnezone's steel-type removing capabilities, letting it spam Draco Meteor to its heart's content. Lastly, I needed some sort of wall breaker to aid Stoutland, my team was also rather weak to a few pokes like Breloom, even with Latias and Sleep Talk on Magnezone I at least needed one more check. Things like Sub Toxic Gliscor were a pain and if I managed to somehow lose Hippowdon to a weather team and lose the weather war, dragons didn't have much trouble sweeping the rest of my team, as I lose the speed needed for my revenge killer (Stoutland) and Hippowdon was the only thing that can tank multiple hits. I decided to use Mamoswine and it worked perfectly and the team was born. This was a very quick version of how I made the team, but I will be making an RMT of this team sometime in the forseeable future if you're interested in a much more in depth look. 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? Tbh, I almost always build around a "dark horse" pokemon when making new teams, this is because when using standard, run of the mill pokemon and sets in tourney battles you have no tricks up your sleeve, no suprise factor. If you lack these important elements in your teams you'll often find the battle's outcome being decided by hax and team matchup. Although the ladder's different from tourney battles, I pretty much only ever make teams for tourney battles... yeah. To answer the question: for the most part I find battling with dark horse pokemon easier, but they're both pretty equal, using a dark horse pokemon has suprise factor whereas the standard, commonly used pokemon are used often for a reason, but there's always a few underrated pokemon down in the depths of the usage list that can destroy everything with enough support. 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? Reaching the hall of fame was rather easy for me and I was really amazed with the sheer brilliance of Stoutland as well as a few other amazing pokemon I discoverd along the way, eg. Tank Latias & Specially Defensive Rotom-W. The best advice I can give to anyone trying to get to the top with their Dark Horse pokemon is to not go out of your way to try and make a lower tier pokemon work in ou, test some stuff out and then use something you know can function well in OU. __________________ *VM / PM me for a BW2 OU Rate.* *Sharpedo Shenanigans - A BW2 OU Weatherless RMT* *Need help enhancing your battling skills? Get a tutor from Battling 101* Last edited by The Great Mighty Doom; Oct 10th, 2012 at 10:57:21 PM.

Oct 9th, 2012, 8:28:34 AM	#236
DarkBlazeR Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 346	Made platinum! :D Pokemon Showdown! Username: Aoraki Dark Horse Pokemon: Victini & Cresselia Screenshot of Top 100 Ladder Ranking: ... Dark Horse Pokemon Complete Sets: Victini @ Choice Band Trait: Victory Star EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spd Adamant Nature - V-Create - Fusion Bolt - U-turn - Brick Break Despite the success of Gamester's and Lavos' sun teams, Victini still hasn't really caught on with the general OU community yet, which perplexes me. Victini's V-Create is bar none the strongest attack in the game. Unless your name is Heatran or Politoed, prepare for a hurting. Cresselia @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 SAtk Bold Nature - Psyshock - Ice Beam - Hidden Power [Fire] - Moonlight This beauty can wall entire teams once their Tyranitar/Scizor/Genesect is dead. Cresselia is an incredible Pokemon on sun teams as it hard-counters many of the biggest threats to them, such as DDNite and RP Landorus-I. Note: I had updated my original post with the change - the registration list still has me listed as State Angel using Sawsbuck. EDIT: Here's the full team. ... Ninetales (F) @ Shed Shell Trait: Drought EVs: 252 HP / 188 SDef / 68 Spd Calm Nature IVs: 30 Def / 30 SDef / 30 Spd / 3 Atk - Flamethrower - Hidden Power [Rock] - Will-o-Wisp - Pain Split Dugtrio (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Arena Trap EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd Jolly Nature IVs: 21 HP - Earthquake - Stone Edge - Reversal - Memento Forretress @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 20 Atk / 236 Def Relaxed Nature IVs: 0 Spd - Stealth Rock - Gyro Ball - Volt Switch - Rapid Spin Victini @ Choice Band Trait: Victory Star EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spd Adamant Nature - V-create - Fusion Bolt - U-turn - Brick Break Venusaur (F) @ Life Orb Trait: Chlorophyll EVs: 72 HP / 252 SAtk / 184 Spd Timid Nature IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def / 30 Spd - Growth - Giga Drain - Hidden Power [Fire] - Sludge Bomb Cresselia (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 SAtk Bold Nature IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd - Psyshock - Ice Beam - Hidden Power [Fire] - Moonlight Last edited by DarkBlazeR; Oct 11th, 2012 at 6:11:49 PM. Reason: added importable

Oct 9th, 2012, 10:31:08 AM	#237
Master of the Six Kings Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 791 Where soccer is the correct terminology and bacon isn't dishonest	^Glad i didnt get too far with Victini than. Ugh. Pokemon Showdown! Username: SwampMage Hall of Fame Standing: None Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Swampert, Mismagius Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown! Notta

Oct 9th, 2012, 11:53:28 AM	#238
Eranu Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 369	Pokemon Showdown! Username: VwCaddy Hall of Fame Standing: Bronze Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Ambipom Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown!: None.

Oct 9th, 2012, 11:59:34 AM	#239
alexwolf King of Conquerors Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 3,617 Greece	Pokemon Showdown! Username: Burning Water Hall of Fame Standing: None Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Rotom-H, Amoonguss Current Ladder Standing: 1000 __________________ __________________ Part of the OU QC team, message me for a check!

Oct 9th, 2012, 1:02:13 PM	#240
Myzozoa Buffalo Soldier Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,106 It could be anywhere most likely could be any frontier any hemisphere	Pokemon Showdown! Username: Venemoth Pwns You Hall of Fame Standing: IDK what this is, halp. Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Venemoth and Mew, who uses Hydreigon seriously. Current Ladder Standing on Pokemon Showdown!: 0, since i haven't started yet I may not have read the OP. __________________ The simplicity of the ghostlike beast The purity of what he wants And where it goes Always love Always loves you Always loves with, infrared love Last edited by Myzozoa; Oct 9th, 2012 at 1:13:39 PM.

Oct 9th, 2012, 1:07:06 PM	#241
alexwolf King of Conquerors Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 3,617 Greece	Alakazam and Hydreigon cannot be chosen because they have more than 5% usage. __________________ Part of the OU QC team, message me for a check!

Oct 9th, 2012, 1:08:33 PM	#242
alkinesthetase <MrE> SPIDERS /\/\;,,;/\/\ Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 695 <ala> canadabros is the strongest bros you can be Mentor	^ lol myzo =P alaka and hydreigon aren't dark horses (hoo boy not even close) but venomoth obviously is and so is mew, so i'll take it. quick summary in case you didn't read the 4 OPs: hall of fame is for anyone who achieves a certain rank on PS OU leaderboard, and a certain glicko2 rating. only one of each dark horse can be in the hall of fame at a given time, and thus only one user of that horse as well. if you beat someone else's ladder peak and ranking with a dark horse that they hall-of-famed, you will take the hall of fame position from them. __________________ <%yee> i will summon a spider to kill alkines my massive mafia roles list

Oct 9th, 2012, 2:05:14 PM	#243
Molk Recipe for disaster Moderator Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 2,212 Long Island	Venomoth is cool and all but every team ive made falls apart when venomoth dies so im changing my dark horse.... for now :3. Plus, ive always wanted to try this guy Pokemon Showdown! Username: GOML HAXORUS Hall of Fame Standing: Platinum Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Darmanitan Current Ladder Standing: none yet calcs for fun band kyurem-B outrage vs max/max+ gliscor: 723 Atk vs 383 Def & 354 HP (120 Base Power): 244 - 288 (68.93% - 81.36%) sheer force boosted band darmanitan flare blitz vs max/max+ gliscor: 624 Atk vs 383 Def & 354 HP (160 Base Power): 280 - 330 (79.10% - 93.22%) Free kyurem-B, enslave darmanitan __________________ 16:46 <TLCNU> Esca literally is 2HKO'd by Stoutland Fire Fang 10:33 skylight molk put me in your sig Last edited by Molk; Oct 10th, 2012 at 1:34:21 PM.

Oct 9th, 2012, 2:09:31 PM	#244
TropiOUs Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 414 North Korea	Metang is really bad and makes me lose because 5 fillers(at least Ambipom allowed me to set up with mence), so scrapping that alt and trying something new that has been on my must try list for a long time. Pokemon Showdown! Username: Geppetto Hall of Fame Standing: Silver Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Shiftry Current Ladder Standing: none yet __________________ 16:46 <TLCNU> Esca literally is 2HKO'd by Stoutland Fire Fang

Oct 9th, 2012, 3:38:14 PM	#245
Eranu Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 369	Updated my first post. Got a little higher with deoxys-d. I'll try to make it higher later. Also, i noticed a lot of teams aren't in the right 'color' since i thought you had to make top 10 for platinum class and top 50 for silver.

Oct 9th, 2012, 3:55:57 PM	#246
alkinesthetase <MrE> SPIDERS /\/\;,,;/\/\ Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 695 <ala> canadabros is the strongest bros you can be Mentor	^ the plan pocket's taken for hof is that the user, and all their dark horses, will be dropped in the highest tier that the user has reached so far, so for example molk has made plat like twice thus ALL his horses will be in the plat section. he only made gold with weavile but we'll leave it up there as well because it was molk's horse (i think pocket colored the names of weavile and what not in the gold tier color to indicate that they were technically of a lower rank) however if there are any users whose highest-tiered horse's recorded peaks actually do not match up with where they've been placed, please drop us a line so we can look into correcting it! EDIT: @ uvood, anything is up for grabs if you're willing to ladder with it far enough. the current holder of celebi is molk, who's made plat with it (check his peak on the hof page). if you can beat his peak, celebi is yours, so it's up to you __________________ <%yee> i will summon a spider to kill alkines my massive mafia roles list

Oct 9th, 2012, 3:59:00 PM	#247
Uvood Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 44 Where none has ever tread	Oki, Articuno is finally being dropped. I managed to get above 1700 ranking with my Swampert and Articuno team, but it became incresingly more difficult to keep stealth rock down as I got higher. I changed up the team a bit, but Articuno is only decent, no way of getting around that fact. Its too hard walled by Heatran if you don't opt for Hidden Power Ground, and hidden power ground's only use is against Heatran, because Hurricane is more powerful in every other scenario. The most used steel types are Gene and Scizor. which you will be hurricaning regardless. Not to mention how slow Articuno is, which really sets it back. Though I'm happy with how far I did get before I dropped it. Swampert however is another story. Swampert is really good, with choice band, he hits surprisingly hard. He is also a great switch in to Tyranitar(who he 1hkos with three of his moves). Only problem is prediction of course, but that's the case with any choiced pokemon. Swampert I definitely recommend, he's hits hard and can take quite alot of hits before going down, as long as you play carefully with him. Is Celebi up for grabs btw? I'd love to take my fav poke through this challenge if it is, I already have a team ready for it :) __________________ I try my best to be cheerful, no matter what. If you challenge me, I hope you do your best to be as well :).

Oct 9th, 2012, 4:09:15 PM	#248
FastFlygon Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 399	New signup post since I'm switching horse and name: Pokemon Showdown! Username: -273.15c Hall of Fame Standing: None. (Yet!) Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Lapras Current Ladder Standing: 1906 88 2020 ± 81 (provisional) 21-5-0 EDIT so I was doing excellent, up to Bronze ranking but I then lost to a bullshit baton pass team and dropped a ridiculous number of points. Will try to get back, but this isn't doing anything but strengthening my hatred of Spore... EDIT 2: Sigh... 3 games in a row +1 for winning... I really don't know how people get so high when things are stacked so heavily against you past the first few matches... __________________ From Hell's Heart I Stab at Thee Last edited by FastFlygon; Oct 13th, 2012 at 10:32:20 AM.

Oct 9th, 2012, 4:28:00 PM	#249
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	@Uvood- aww, I was really rooting for your success with Articuno. Did you try running dugtrio on your team to mitigate Articuno's Heatran weakness? __________________