***Introduction***
Hi everyone, I'm George Eliot, and I'm, uh, quitting competitive pokemon. I don’t enjoy playing the game as much as I know most of you do, hence the quitting, but what I do love is teambuilding. This team has been both my favourite to use and my most successful in 5th gen, so I couldn’t leave Pokémon behind without posting it. Some stats; despite being a beyond terrible ladder player, I used an earlier version of this team and one of my old ones to reach #1 on Smogon’s PO server and #3 on Beta near the end of the Genesect playtest, and slightly more recently peaked at #1 Beta just before Christmas. I shared the team around a little bit and I know some other guys who also had success using it (mostly without my permission lol). The changes I've implemented since posting this RMT have made the team even more effective, so thanks to everyone who's given suggestions :)
My teambuilding philosophy stems from the need to be original. The strongest players can use the bog standard teams to reach the top of the ladders, but I need to take the biggest team matchup advantage I can into battles. Using completely unorthodox teams, like this one, puts experienced opponents in situations they’ve rarely encountered before, taking their intuition out of play. I’m not going to write a teambuilding process because this one just sort of all coalesced one day; instead, I’ll explain how the team works. It’s centred around the idea that Keldeo and Landorus share nearly all the same counters (Celebi, Latias, etc) and nearly all of these can be OHKO’d by a Specs Zoroark. Zoroark primarily masquerades as Keldeo early on, breaking open a defensive core, and leaving the opponent open to a sweep from either Keldeo or Agility Landorus (depending on whether their team is stallish or offensive). The rest of the team works to enable this and cover threats, but I tried to pick members which could also function as useful Illusion partners (Starmie, for instance, also tends to bring in Jellicent / Latias / Celebi).
Other stuff. Cassie Ainsworth is awesome, go watch her (she’s a character in the British series Skins). Also there’s probably loads of typos, random references to Thundurus instead of Landorus, and generally bad writing in this RMT, so if you find any let me know and I’ll (probably do absolutely nothing to) fix them.
***Kinda (but not really) In Depth***
Abomasnow @ Leftovers
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Wood Hammer
- Focus Punch
- Ice Shard
- Leech Seed
I spent most of my time in BW2 building Hail teams so I guess it’s appropriate that my last RMT should feature Abomasnow. However, this isn’t a true Hail team, it just uses Aboma for its unique combination of anti-weather defense, Ice Shard, and solid wallbreaking ability. I've been using a standard mixed Expert Belt set, but after Conduit suggested using Leech Seed and more bulk to make it easier to sponge rain teams I changed to one of my old custom hail sets. Max attack makes Ice Shard strong enough to revenge kill what it needs to, while also turning Wood Hammer and Focus Punch into surprisingly powerful wallbreaking tools. Wood Hammer is the key move against Sand and Rain teams; the threat of the attack almost invariably leads to the likes of Heatran, Ferrothorn, or Scizor switching in, which can be nailed with Focus Punch. Speaking of Focus Punch, it looks risky to use it without a Sub, but Aboma forces switches so well that it just isn't necessary. On this team it's really essential that Aboma has a way to break Ferrothorn, otherwise standard rainstall builds could crush me, and Focus Punch is by far the best option. If you'll notice, Abomasnow's most common switchins also tend to be Steel resists, so if I can severely weaken or KO them with Focus Punch or just through Leech Seed + Hail stalling, Jirachi typically has an easy time cleaning up lategame. Another useful thing to note is that virtually everything that likes to switch into the yeti is setup fodder for Keldeo, so I often double switch into pony.
With Zoroark on the team you might think that Hail is counterproductive. In theory it should be against an opponent who watches my ‘mons HP, but I’ve never really had problems with it. First of all, Zoroark is an early game Pokémon; I try to get that crucial Illusion kill within the first ten turns, and it’s very rare (except against hyperoffensive Sun teams) that I’ll want to bring in Aboma before then. Second, it isn’t hard to manipulate how much damage Zoro and its initial Illusion partner take from the snow. Third, having Hail up instead of Sand lets Zoro mimic Landorus effectively. Finally, it just doesn’t matter that much. Specs Zoroark is such a good mon that even if the opponent sees through the Illusion or plays cautiously, virtually anything switching in has a good chance of being crippled. Hail also has some nice advantages. The only common Pokémon which don’t care about either Keldeo or Zoroark are Tentacruel and Amoonguss while in the Rain. Without Abomasnow it could be pretty tough for me to break rainstall (especially Porii Sames’ old team which packs both of those defensive threats). Hail also obviously stops Chlorophyll and Sand Rush mons walking all over me like they do with weatherless offense.
Starmie @ Leftovers
252 HP / 40 SAtk / 216 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Psyshock
-Recover
- Rapid Spin
- Reflect Type
Starmie really holds the team together, and is probably the most important member after Zoroark. When using Illusion it’s always a good idea to keep hazards off, and when you take into account my two Stealth Rock weaknesses and the possibility of residual Hail damage, you’ll see how crucial she is. Since Rapid Spinning and threat coverage is her main purpose I went for the bulky EV spread, max HP and enough speed to edge out base 110’s. I've forgone a Water STAB on the advice of Kidogo, since it a) really isn't necessary, and b) no opponent will ever assume that it's safe to leave their Heatran in on Starmie. Psyshock hits the Fighting types that I rely on Starmie to kill, as well as Gengar who otherwise spinblocks bulky Mie effectively. The only really interesting part of the set is Reflect Type; it lets you beat Choiced Tyranitar and Scizor, which is pretty huge, especially with the Keldeo + CBTar core as huge as it is. Combined with Recover I'm guaranteed to spin and escape from Pursuit relatively unharmed, while leaving the opponent forced to either pull a blind switch or leave themselves Pursuit-locked. Oh yeah and it lets me spin forever against Ferrothorn, which is the trolliest thing ever to do to rainstall.
I know I’ve said Keldeo + Zoro + Landorus is the core of the team, and that’s pretty true, but Starmie + Zoroark is often even more effective against defensive teams. Starmie is great at luring in Keldeo and Landorus' counters, but it benefits as well from the ability to Rapid Spin once Jellicent is removed by a Specs Dark Pulse. The threat of me getting a Rapid Spin off also prevents the opponent from playing cautiously to figure out who Zoroark is masquerading as. A lot of players floating on top of the leaderboard also tend to expect I’ll use Zoro to bluff Keldeo, especially if they’ve played the team before, so choosing Starmie instead often catches them off guard.
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
Jirachi is the last member of my triumvirate of pseudo-defensive Pokémon. I originally used it in the team back when Genesect was allowed by Smogon, when it made a fantastic lure for the annoying bug. Scarf Jirachi with Fire Punch caught on later in the playtest but what made it more effective was using Stealth Rock early on in the match to bluff a standard specially defensive support set. Now that Genesect is gone, though, ScarfRachi still has a place as a reliable SRer, incredibly solid check to some of the most dangerous metagame threats, and an Iron Heading nightmare to face lategame once Steel resists are worn down by Hail and other damage.
Iron Head and Stealth Rock are both obvious. The last two moves aren’t set in stone; I don’t need Body Slam since the team is already fairly fast, and doesn’t have the longevity or means to take advantage of the chance of full paralysis. Fire Punch benefits from the advantage Abomasnow gives me against Rain teams and is especially important for Scizor, which can be an issue lategame, and Ferrothorn, which easily handles Starmie and can rack up residual damage on the team pretty quickly. I usually use U-turn in the last slot, over something like Trick or Ice Punch, because it helps set up Zoroark’s entry and also puts Latias / Celebi, the two most common counters to both Keldeo and Landorus, in a tight spot. The EV’s are quite standard; I really don’t need Jolly because all that would give me is speed ties against +1 Volcarona (who Jirachi can’t touch) and Mence (who is handled by Abomasnow’s Ice Shard). On the other hand, the extra power from Adamant gives me that much more lategame sweeping potential.
Keldeo @ Chesto Berry
252 HP / 56 SDef / 200 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Rest
- Calm Mind
Keldeo is the first member of my offensive core and is the designated stallbreaker in conjunction with Zoroark. His solid defensive typing and offensive threat make him really hard to play around, especially for defensively leaning teams. Bluffing Keldeo with Zoroark is really the bread and butter of this team and gets me so many quick and easy wins until high up on the ladder; it’s incredibly simple but incredibly effective, even against careful opponents. It’s a slightly strange set I came up with, as you can see, but I swear it works better than anything else. The defensively leaning EV’s make the most of pony’s surprisingly solid bulk; I switched to them after everybody started running SpDef Rotom-W to handle Rain offense, which beats offensive CM Keldeo but is turned into set up fodder by this version (assuming it switches in as I boost). The speed investment puts me just ahead of Lando-I. Calm Mind is obvious for a Chesto Rest set and lets me run through Zoro-weakened teams efficiently; Scald > Surf > HPump because I <3 accuracy and hax burns.
The lack of special attack investment obviously costs me power but I rarely miss it with this team, since Keldeo is usually actually Zoroark in the early game (which is when wallbreaking is most important). Most teams nowadays are prepared to handle Specs Keldeo in rain anyway, so even if I ran 252 SpA and Hydro Pump it often wouldn’t get me anywhere. The only time the lack of power troubles me is against Ferrothorn, who is threatened even less than usual by Sacred Sword, so I have to rely more on Abomasnow / Zoroark and residual damage to get past it. Otherwise though I honestly think this is the best set for Keldeo to run outside of Rain, at least until people figure out how weak Rotom is without investment. Definitely give it a try.
Zoroark @ Choice Specs
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Flamethrower
- Trick
Since I retired this team the CB Tyranitar + Keldeo combination has really skyrocketed in popularity, which works very similarly to my own core, but I still maintain Zoroark works much much better as a lure than Tyranitar. One reason is sheer power; combined with Trick, Zoro can ruin literally any switchin, while Tyranitar is easily handled by most physical walls (especially now that Hippowdon is growing in popularity again). A Pursuit-locked Tyranitar is setup fodder for the entire metagame; Zoro can whack the SD TechniLoom trying to set up with Dark Pulse and put it within a couple of turns of death after Hail and LO. Tyranitar is also hurt badly by its lack of speed. Celebi can hit it with Grass STAB, U-turn out or just SR before Tar can hit it with Pursuit. Jellicent can Will-o-wisp. Even Latias, Tyranitar’s best target, can Reflect and then set up Calm Mind’s against Pursuit (or tank the Crunch and then switch out). You get the picture. All of Tyranitar’s best targets are increasingly using sets which enable them to get around it. Zoroark doesn’t let this happen. It brings its own problems (frailty, reliance on prediction), but once you get a feel for using it it literally never fails. The third reason to use Zoroark over Tyranitar, which I want to emphasise, is the mindgames. They are delicious. Zoroark’s threat lets you work your way into your opponents thought process faster than any other pokemon. I can’t overstate how amazing having Zoroark on your team is even if you don’t show it at all.
I don’t think there’s much else to say about Zoro. The moveset and EV’s are completely standard, and inarguably the most effective in Hail or Sand. I really think it needs a lot more use, and the current metagame is perfectly tailored to it.
Landorus-I @ Life Orb
4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast
- Agility
So, I finally succumbed and replaced my ol' faithful Agility Thundurus-T with his slicker earthen cousin, and I haven't been disappointed. Thundurus was in the original form of the team as an extra layer of defense against both Tornadus-T and Breloom, but Torn got banned and Breloom is being neglected atm due to Keldeo being a boss. Lando lacks a SR weakness, putting less pressure on Starmie to spin, destroys Sun which was previously problematic, and generally does everything Thundurus did except with more power and suaveness.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure this is the only standard OU set in my team, but it's standard for a reason. Tbh if Drizzle is banned, I expect this guy to follow soon after because he's an absolute steamroller. Agility allows me to clean up once Lando's common counters such as Latias and Celebi are eliminated; Earth Power is the requisite insanely powerful STAB; Focus Blast and HP Ice are for coverage and hit what they need to (well, Focus Blast doesn't, but that's what it's supposed to do anyway).
Thanks to Sheer Force negating Life Orb damage, Landorus makes an insanely effective partner to Zoroark (they take the same Hail and SR damage as well). Landorus represents a huge offensive threat, as does Keldeo (well okay so mine actually doesn't, but the opponent doesn't know that), which really forces the opponent to play to counter the Lando he sees and not the Zoroark he suspects. Doing this doesn't require me to actually bring in Landorus, thus conserving his health for the crucial game-ending sweep, which is another significant advantage of using Zoroark > Tyranitar or any other Pursuiter.
***Conclusion***
Writing this RMT has taken me absolutely forever so I’m glad it’s done now. Hope you enjoyed it, or at least managed to skim through it in one sitting :) I’d also love if you wanted to give the team a try and rehabilitate it for the current meta.
This is also essentially my official quit thread from pokemon, so I’d like to give a shout out to all the fantastic guys from this forum and on the simulators who I’ve talked to (in a past incarnation lol) and battled over the last few years; I really had a great time here. Thanks for the great battles, the nice guys on the ladders, and the ragers and hax fiends too I guess for their comic relief.
Goodbye Pokémon. You’re a terrible game and I hate you forever. Expect me back though for a bit when 6th gen rolls around.
=P
