Marvelous! (A Weatherless Offensive Team)

Hello, Smogon! With BW2 singing its siren's song, I've been dragged back into the realm of competitive Pokemon from a Platinum-era hiatus. This team has served me very well, but it can be improved, and that is why I come to you for assistance.

I'm a comic nerd. That's all the reason I need to nickname my critters the way I have.

Marvelous!







(Doctor Strange) Alakazam @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

Ever since I heard Alakazam got Magic Guard as its DW ability, I wanted to use it. Its raw power combined with the inability to take indirect damage plus high speed and damaging moves intrigued me. Alakazam is the one critter I based this team around, and it has certainly pulled its weight.

Substitute is useful to take advantage of the switches Zam tends to cause when it comes in on Pokemon it can scare out. Psyshock is my main STAB move and is useful to take out CM users like Keldeo and nasties like Terrakion. Focus Blast and Shadow Ball round out the coverage, nailing Steel-types (and the pink blobs to a lesser extent, Psyshock does basically the same damage and doesn't tend to miss), and the Lati twins.

I find scouting with Substitute pretty useful and thus have opted for Life Orb for extra power instead of Focus Sash, which fails to work after a Sub anyway.

Zam is named after Doctor Strange because they are both very powerful magicians. Stephen himself is also a mind reader and a minor telekinetic. At the end of the day, though, he's only human, and has human weaknesses. Alakazam has paper defenses. Regardless, underestimate him at your peril.



(Storm) Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick

Since it's a terrible idea to throw Alakazam into any attack that isn't a status move, you need to give it a free switch-in, and that's where Rotom-W comes in. Rotom is also one of my answers to Rain teams: it takes lol damage from defensive Politoed's Scald, while leaving a large dent in the frog with Volt Switch. Fast, powerful, and sturdy, this forms the Volt part of my VoltTurn core.

Volt Switch is an awesome move that keeps momentum on my side and hits pretty damn hard. Hydro Pump staves off Ground-types who may want to absorb Volt Switch, provides secondary STAB, and does a huge amount of damage, especially in rain; for example OHKOing greedy Thunderus-T. Hidden Power Ice nails Dragons who want to absorb a Hydro Pump. Trick is useful for crippling walls, locking them into one attack.

Queen of the weather elements, Rotom-W is Storm, a powerful and fast mutant -- Rotom-W itself an iteration of normal Rotom! Often the voice of reason, she is an offensive pivot that is invaluable on your side, and a nightmare to your opponent.



(Black Panther) Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 196 HP / 96 Atk / 216 Def
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn

The second scout on my team and the Turn portion of the VoltTurn core, Landorus-T supports by laying down Rocks and keeping the momentum going. A great offensive and defensive pivot, Landorus checks hard hitting physical attackers like Terrakion, Scizor, and Tyranitar. It has great synergy with Rotom-W and still hits hard with it's 145 base attack.

Earthquake is STAB and a very powerful attack in its own right. Stone Edge nails Flying-types who think they can get in on an immunity. Stealth Rock helps snare those key KOs and gives things like Volcarona a hard time. U-Turn is a momentum-gaining move which is still pretty strong in its own right.

Yeah, it's a big kitty. Yeah, it's a damn strong fighter. Yeah, it's a Pokemon that brings fertility to wastelands. Yeah, it forms a great core with Rotom-W -- just like T'Challa and Storm's marriage. Yeah, I know that's no longer the case. ;_;

Black Panther. Nuff said.



(Doctor Doom) Salamence @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 64 Atk / 192 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Outrage

While Alakazam hurts, Salamence hurts. Its job is to break down walls for the Psychic magician, and does that job spectacularly. Even if it only gets to come out once in the whole battle, it usually leaves a large enough hole that the rest of my team can capitalize on and transform into a win. A Dragon always adds lots of type resistances to a team, and with Intimidate Salamence can take a weak hit. And once it's in, something is going to be in pain.

Draco Meteor is crazy powerful, doing up to 56% on physically defensive Forretress, and mauls just about everything else. Fire Blast nails those Steel-types, 2HKOing Ferrothorn even in rain. Earthquake deals with Heatran and Tyranitar (the lattermost is guaranteed to die to EQ if it eats a Draco Meteor). Outrage is mainly there for Volcarona, who can set up on the other three moves.

Salamence is Doctor Doom because when he shows up, you know something bad is about to go down. It may take some careful prediction and planning to do the most damage, but when it happens, it's insane. Master of magic and technology alike (or special and physical moves, hurr), when you see him coming, you better start running.

(I've tried Hydreigon in Salamence's place, and while that hits even freaking harder, the lower speed is an issue. You can use a Doombot, I guess, but nothing beats the original.)



(Magneto) Metagross @ Choice Band
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 164 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Zen Headbutt
- Earthquake
- Trick

...I will admit, Metagross feels like the weakest link on this team. Yes, it hits hard. Yes, it has great type synergy with Salamence, Rotom-W, and Landorus-T. But I still feel that something better could go in its place. I just can't decide what.

The move choices are a bit weird, but hear me out. Bullet Punch is handy priority that, while with low base power, still does a surprising amount of damage after STAB and CB factor in. Zen Headbutt also has only average base power, but its main usefulness is how surprising it is. People switch in their bulky Waters expecting Meteor Mash, and their counter ends up in a great deal of pain. CB Zen Headbutt 2HKOs defensive Politoed and Jellicent and has a chance to OHKO defensive Rotom-W after SR. Earthquake takes on fellow Steels and Tyranitar. Trick is useful to cripple walls, but I may drop it and try another move.

Metagross, metal being that controls psychic powers...I'm sorry, but that just screams Magneto to me. Magnezone is too obvious, c'mon. While not the fastest around, it has many aces up its sleeve to take its opponents off-guard.



(Iron Fist) Lucario @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Crunch

If my team has done its job correctly, wearing down the opponent through powerful attacks, VoltTurn, and residual damage, then this thing comes in and wrecks faces. After a Swords Dance, very little can stand up to it and come out in one piece. After the rest of my team has had their share of damage and a Swords Dance, it's pretty much GG.

This is your standard Lucario. SD boosts its Attack to crazy levels. Close Combat is very powerful and gets STAB, plowing through opponents. ExtremeSpeed is necessary priority and does a ton of damage in its own right. Crunch is good to hit bulky Psychics and Ghosts like Deoxys-D and Dusclops.

Lucario is a martial artist that has the ability to utilize the power of chi. Does that sound familiar? It even rocks a headband like good ole Danny Rand! Both of them hit like a truck, even if they punch you from only an inch away.

- - -

So there's my team! I feel like it does solidly, but it could be better. It struggles against Sun teams, and the advent of Genesect hurts it too. Your advice is much appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

Excelsior!

Hi there!

Considering the fact that you think metagross is the weak link, I would suggest replacing him with scizor. Yes, it's overdone, yes, it's boring, and yes, you will get called names a lot, but the scrotom combo wouldn't be infamous if it wasn't good. Scizor has a more powerful bullet punch as well as a destructive u-turn to give alakazam a chance to switch in. It also does a better job of patching up the minor terrakion weakness you have due to the fact that bullet punch is a 1hko.


Scizor @Choice Band
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 HP, 4 Speed | Technician | Adamant
- U-Turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit / Bug Bite

Whoopee for blandness! At least blandness works well! This is pretty much self explanatory. U-turn scouts and gives you free switch ins. Bullet Punch mauls everything that's not resistant and / or doesn't have high physical defense. (Skarmory: ruining scizor's D/P/Pt party since D/P/Pt) Superpower will make heatrans and magnezones quiver in fear of switching into this teched up beast. Pursuit makes scizor run at stuff really really really fast so it does damage before they get switched out, allowing it to revenge kill fleeing pokemon such as latios. Bug bite allows him to be mr. mosquito, except it hurts 1 million times worse and he doesn't suck blood. It's his strongest STAB.

Make everything cringe in mortal terror from general stereotypes and pokemon that get overused so much for good reason; use scizor and it won't disappoint.

Hope the scizor helps!

Also, excelsior to you too!

Hey,

nice team you have here. If you're going to create a team around Alakazam, you need proper support- including ways to deal with Tyranitar, Tornadus-T in Rain, and physical priority users. Since you use Rotom-W as a pivot to Alakazam, I suggest you change it's set:

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
252 Def / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest nature
~WiloWisp
~Volt Switch
~Hydro Pump
~Pain split

This Rotom-W may look weird, but I think it supports your team in a number of ways. First of all, it WiloWisps, crippling the opponent and halving their attack stat, allowing Alakazam's paper thin defense actually stand a hit or two. It also has a slower Volt Switch and a lot more bulk- that way, you can be pretty sure that Alakazam will get in scotch free. I invested EVs in Def and SpD because this Rotom uses Pain Split- so raising your HP won't help as much. It's also a great rain counter, tanking Hurricanes and Hydro Pumps and Volt Switching. Hydro Pump is secondary STAB that hits super hard.

However, now that you've lost your Scarfer, you will have a harder time dealing with faster threats. To remedy this, I suggest you give Landorus-T a Scarf.

Landorus-T @ Choice Scarf
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
~U-Turn
~Stone Edge
~Earthquake
~Stealth Rock

Just because it's scarved doesn't mean it can't use SR. Scarfed Landorus is even faster and more powerful than Scarfed Rotom- and it has other perks too. One is Intimidate- it lowers the attack stat of priority users like Breloom or Scizor, who will give Alakazam a hard time with their priority. Another is the ability to handle Tyranitar- EQ hits Ttar hard, erasing it as a threat. U-Turn is also great; it allows you to switch constantly with Rotom and lower your opponent's attack to shitty levels. Stone Edge hits flying dragons and most importantly, Tornadus-T and Volcorona.

Ice Punch is probably a better idea on Lucario; Gliscor and Landorus are much more of a threat to you than Ghost types, which are easily destroyed by Alakazam.

Nice team; hope I helped!

Hey cool team. One thing I noticed, however, is that rain teams can be trouble. The only Pokemon you have that can really come in on a rain-boosted water-type attack is Rotom-W, which will get worn down doing so. Salamence may be bulky but it can't take hits that well. An example is it is 2HKO'ed by a Scarf Rotom-W under the rain using Hydro Pump. One thing I suggest trying out is Kingdra over Salamence.



Kingdra still provides your team with a Dragon-type but also helps you in countering rain teams both offensively and defensively. Kingdra has access to Swift Swim, so it can abuse opposing rain team's drizzle, making it very difficult to take down. Kingdra also helps you take water-type attacks better as it has good bulk. The ChestoRest set allows Kingdra to set up Dragon Dances for a huge sweep while dodging status problems due to Rest and automatically waking up from the Chesto Berry. Kingdra also has two great STAB moves. One that can abuse commonly seen rain team with a boost under it and another only resisted by steel-types. Kingdra fits a nice role on your team as it is both able to devastate rain teams offensively and defensively. Kingdra can set up pretty easily too because of the many resistances it carries to go along Kingdra's good bulk, making it a very dangerous sweeper on your team. I also agree in switching Metagross into Scizor, as it gives you the devastating combo of Rotom-W and Scizor, brilliant for U-turning. This puts a lot of pressure on the opponent and gives you the upperhand from the gained momentum. Hope I helped and good luck.

Hey man nice team :)

Looking over at this team Choice Scarf Genesect looks like a huge threat to this team it is able to outspeed every member of your team and Ko Lucario with Flamethrower, Landorus-I and Salamence with Ice Beam and Alakazam with U-Turn. For theses reasons I suggest changing Heatran>Lucario Heatran can pick up Flash Fire boosts from Genesects Flamethrower as well as take virtually nothing from Ice Beam and U-Turn due to his 4x resist. Heatran can attack back with Fire Blast to destroy Genesect. You also said you had some trouble with sun teams Heatran also helps when combatting them because with Fire Blast, Earthpower, and Hidden Power [Ice] you hit alot of pokemon super effectivly on sun teams.

If you do decide to go with Heatran you get a pokemon that can relaiblely use Stealth Rock meaning you can take it of Landorus's move set. I agree with Electrolytes suggestion in changing Landorus to a scarf set and changing Rotom wash to a bulky attacker. For the reason's he suggested but also defensive Rotom-W gives you a check to Tornadus-T. However with Scarf Landorus I think Landorus-I>Landorus-T works bette in this case with Hidden Power [Ice] over Stealth Rock obviously because Heatran will have it. This is because Landorus-I can outspeed Scarf Salamence when equiped with a scarf and can ohko it with Hidden Power [Ice] something Landorus-T fails to do. This is extremely important because Scarf Salamence can outspeed and destroy your Salamence and Alakazam with Outrage as well as Heatran without its Baloon and Metagross with Earthqauke. Een if you don't decide to go with Heatran Lucario gets eaten by Earthqauke.

I hope i helped good luck with the team!

Sets
tl;dr


~Superpowerdude

Hey, nice team you got there, it looks extremely sollid, but I have couple suggestions to make it better. The first thing I have noticed is your weakness to Rain teams, and especially to Rotom-W, which you have nothing to switch into, while it can switch in on Scizor and Landorus, or simply come after a kill. The Choice Scarf version is especially hard to face, as it OHKOes everything on your team except for Rotom-W and Salamence, which are easily 2HKOed. While it's not a "foolproof" Rotom-W counter, you could try usin Hydreigon instead of Salamence. Hydreigon has still great wallbreaking power, and it isn't weak to Stealth Rock as Salamence is. Here's the set( the Speed evs let Hydreigon outpace Jolly SD Lucario)

Hydreigon@Life Orb | Levitate
Hasty Nature | 76 Atk / 240 SpA / 192 Spe
Draco Meteor / Fire Blast / Superpower / Roost

I also recommend using Hidden Power Ice instead of Hidden Power Fire on Rotom-W, as it allows Rotom to take down Dragonite and other Dragon-type pokem reliably, and it doesn't make you lose speed ties against other Rotom-W, which can prove very useful. Your team deals with Ferrothorn well anyway, so Hidden Power Fire isn't needed.