-Introduction-
I made this team about 1 month ago, at the beginning of September. My previous team was getting old and too slow to compete with the current metagame, so I knew I had to make changes. Ghosts N Stuff was born out of the faults in that team, and is a departure from all of my previous teams, which were all hyper offense or Baton Pass teams. However, Ghosts N Stuff has become my most successful team to date, allowing me to peak at 3rd place on the ladder with a CRE of 1649.
-Team Building-
1. I knew I wanted Metagross to lead my team, as it has done an admirable job of doing so in all of my previous teams.
2. Being a relative noob at team building, I used type resistances/immunities to choose my 2nd Pokemon. Seeing as Metagross had a weakness to Fire especially, I added Heatran to absorb the Fire attacks.
3. Both Heatran and Metagross have weaknesses to Earthquake, so I added Dragonite, whose Ice and Dragon weaknesses are covered by the former 2 Pokemon.
4. I knew that I wanted to try something new (specifically, a stall team), so I added Blissey to take special attacks.
5. Of course, Blissey is lonely by itself, so I complemented her with Skarmory to complete the famous SkarmBliss combo.
6. Finally, I needed something that could take the Fighting-type attacks, especially Dynamicpunch, that would overwhelm my team, and so I decided to top it off with Dusknoir.
Overall, my team relies on SR + 3 layers of Spikes to inflict entry damage, Toxic and Will-o-wisp to stall those who stay in, and Skarmory's Whirlwind to phaze and rack up entry damage. Blissey, Skarmory, and Dusknoir wall attacks as the enemy pokes are slowly killed. Heatran revenge kills, and it along with Metagross can explode on annoying targets. Finally, Dragonite cleans up after all the enemy pokes are revealed and heavily damaged.
And without further ado, here is the team in detail!
Changes are in Red.
-The Team-
Metagross @ Lum Berry: The Lead, SR, and Pseudo-Revenge Killer
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/6 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion
Metagross is my favorite lead in OU, simply because of its ability to set up Stealth Rocks, ability to take a decent amount of neutral/NE attacks with its great typing and decent Defense, and ability to do heavy damage when it needs to. Stealth Rock is a staple on this set, as well as Meteor Mash, because it provides a great STAB move that inflicts heavy damage. Bullet Punch was added instead of Earthquake because of the necessity to kill faster Pokemon (especially Baton Passers) such as Sash Ninjask, Smeargle, and other various pokes. In addition, it allows Metagross to function as a pseudo-revenge killer, killing low health sweepers with a 60 BP priority attack coming off a massive 405 Attack stat. Finally, Explosion allows Metagross to go out with a bang by killing things that would otherwise trouble my team like Swampert, Machamp, Hippowdon, and other fat pokes, and doing heavy damage to, if not OHKOing, things that resist it as well. Lum Berry allows Metagross to shrug off Dynamicpunch, Spore, and Thunder Wave, in order of annoyance, retaliate with Meteor Mash and finish it off with Bullet Punch, or Explode.
---
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers: The Special Wall, Healer, and Toxic Staller
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/6 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
Blissey is one of the most annoying pokemon to face in all of OU (at least in my opinion). Its massive HP and Special Defense makes it the premier special wall, and is the perfect Pokemon to fit in with my strategy. Wish allows it to heal the pokemon that can't heal themselves, namely Metagross and Heatran. However, it's main use is to keep Blissey alive, as the 2 mentioned Pokemon are meant to explode at sometime in their careers anyway. Protect allows Blissey to scout and switch out to an appropriate resistance/immunity. Seismic Toss is a basic damaging move that allows Blissey to do some damage and at least interrupt Calm Minders from going on unhindered. Finally, the most important move on this set is Toxic. Toxic allows Blissey to poison and mess up all Pokemon that happens to switch into it, except Steel and Poison types (which is what Will-o-wisp is for). With a combination of Toxic, Protect, and Wish, Blissey can herself easily outstall specially-based Pokemon that happen to stay in, and those who switch are inflicted with another Toxic. Dusknoir switches in on physical attackers, Steels, and Poisons, and cripple them with Will-o-wisp.
---
Skarmory (F) @ Shed Shell: The Physical Wall, Spiker, and Phazer/Shuffler
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/94 Spd/164 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
Skarmory completes the famous SkarmBliss defensive combo, and thus is also a staple in my stall-based team. It can switch in to quite a few of the physical threats that bother Blissey and proceed to set up or phaze them away, depending on the specific Pokemon. Taunt allows Skarmory to shut down other stall teams effectively, as well as certain stat boosters like Cradily that cannot be phazed out. Roost allows Skarmory to heal off entry damage and Brave Bird recoil, and allows it to really be a bitch in setting up and racking up entry damage. Spikes is probably the most important move on this set, as 3 full layers + SR = 37% damage just from switching in. Along with the final move on this set, Whirlwind, Skarmory can easily shuffle the enemy team and rack up large amounts of entry damage. In addition, Whirlwind lets Skarmory scout and phaze stat boosters. Shed Shell allows Skarmory to switch out against Magnezone to Blissey.
---
Dusknoir (F) @ Leftovers: The Spinblocker, Physical-attacker-crippler, and Mixed Wall
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/30 Atk/228 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Will-o-wisp
- Pain Split
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
Dusknoir is probably one of the most important players on my team, and is the namesake of it as well (as well as the awesome song by deadmau5). Although at first sight Dusknoir doesn't do much, but in reality, it does 3 important tasks. 1. Block Rapid Spin, 2. Cripple physical attackers, Steels, and Poisons, and 3. to a lesser extent, heavily damage fat pokes with massive HP while healing itself at the same time. For a team that greatly relies on entry hazards, status kill, and few hyper offensive Pokemon to kill enemy stall annoyances, Dusknoir fulfills all of these tasks and does a very good job at it. Will-o-wisp, the most important move on this set, cripples Steel and Poison types, as well as physical attackers that Blissey doesn't dare stay in against. On a side note, Dusknoir also switches into the Fighting-type attacks that Blissey is weak to with impunity, and proceeds to cripple them with burn. Pain Split allows Dusknoir to heal itself while simultaneously damage enemy Pokemon. Dusknoir having a relatively low HP, almost every enemy Pokemon will be damaged by Pain Split, so little prediction is required. Earthquake is used to kill Heatran, the one Pokemon that is immune to both Toxic and Will-o-wisps, as well as finish off slow Pokemon that have been greatly damaged by entry hazards/status. Ice Punch is just filler to hit Flying-types, which my team actually has no super-effective attacks against.
OR
Rotom-W @ Leftovers: The Spinblocker
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/168 Def/88 Spe
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
---
Heatran (F) @ Choice Scarf: The Revenge Killer, Fire Absorber, and Annoying-thing-killer
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SAtk/6 SDef
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion
- Dragon Pulse
Heatran fulfills an important role in my team, and that is revenge killing. If a powerful sweeper manages to plow through my wall of SkarmBlissNoir, Heatran is required to OHKO it with the respective move. In addition, it switches into the Fire moves aimed at Metagross and Skarmory, and can retaliate with Earth Power or Fire Blast if one predicts that the other will switch out. Fire Blast is the basic STAB move and is boosted to 270 BP if Heatran switches into a Fire attack, courtesy of Flash Fire. Earth Power hits enemy Heatran as well as other fires for super-effective damage. Dragon Pulse covers the Dragons that resist Fire and are immune to Ground. Finally, Explode takes out the annoying things that no other members of your team really has a easy time with, but only when the enemy team is spent and weakened, except in special circumstances.
---
Dragonite (F) @ Life Orb: The Cleanup Guy, Late-Game Sweeper, and Stall Breaker
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 118 Atk/192 Spe/200 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Superpower
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Extremespeed
The final member of my team, Dragonite cleans up the remnants of the enemy crippled by entry hazards, status, and random explosions here and there. Superpower allows Dragonite to be a deadly stallbreaker by OHKOing Blissey, as well as Tyranitar, Heatran, and other things, due to its massive 403 Attack stat. Draco Meteor is a basic STAB attack and dents everything that doesn't resist it. Flamethrower provides coverage against Scizor, Forretress, and other Steels. Extremespeed gives Dragonite the ability to pick off weakened Pokemon that it could not outspeed otherwise. Life Orb maximizes Dragonite's attack output, changing many 2HKOs into OHKOs after entry hazard damage.
---
And there it is! Metagross, Blissey, Skarmory, Dusknoir, Heatran, and Dragonite combine their might to form Ghosts N Stuff. Now, I know this team is far from being a good team, so I would greatly appreciate any comments/criticisms on how to improve. Thank you!
I made this team about 1 month ago, at the beginning of September. My previous team was getting old and too slow to compete with the current metagame, so I knew I had to make changes. Ghosts N Stuff was born out of the faults in that team, and is a departure from all of my previous teams, which were all hyper offense or Baton Pass teams. However, Ghosts N Stuff has become my most successful team to date, allowing me to peak at 3rd place on the ladder with a CRE of 1649.
-Team Building-
1. I knew I wanted Metagross to lead my team, as it has done an admirable job of doing so in all of my previous teams.
2. Being a relative noob at team building, I used type resistances/immunities to choose my 2nd Pokemon. Seeing as Metagross had a weakness to Fire especially, I added Heatran to absorb the Fire attacks.
3. Both Heatran and Metagross have weaknesses to Earthquake, so I added Dragonite, whose Ice and Dragon weaknesses are covered by the former 2 Pokemon.
4. I knew that I wanted to try something new (specifically, a stall team), so I added Blissey to take special attacks.
5. Of course, Blissey is lonely by itself, so I complemented her with Skarmory to complete the famous SkarmBliss combo.
6. Finally, I needed something that could take the Fighting-type attacks, especially Dynamicpunch, that would overwhelm my team, and so I decided to top it off with Dusknoir.
Overall, my team relies on SR + 3 layers of Spikes to inflict entry damage, Toxic and Will-o-wisp to stall those who stay in, and Skarmory's Whirlwind to phaze and rack up entry damage. Blissey, Skarmory, and Dusknoir wall attacks as the enemy pokes are slowly killed. Heatran revenge kills, and it along with Metagross can explode on annoying targets. Finally, Dragonite cleans up after all the enemy pokes are revealed and heavily damaged.
And without further ado, here is the team in detail!
Changes are in Red.
-The Team-
Metagross @ Lum Berry: The Lead, SR, and Pseudo-Revenge Killer
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/6 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion
Metagross is my favorite lead in OU, simply because of its ability to set up Stealth Rocks, ability to take a decent amount of neutral/NE attacks with its great typing and decent Defense, and ability to do heavy damage when it needs to. Stealth Rock is a staple on this set, as well as Meteor Mash, because it provides a great STAB move that inflicts heavy damage. Bullet Punch was added instead of Earthquake because of the necessity to kill faster Pokemon (especially Baton Passers) such as Sash Ninjask, Smeargle, and other various pokes. In addition, it allows Metagross to function as a pseudo-revenge killer, killing low health sweepers with a 60 BP priority attack coming off a massive 405 Attack stat. Finally, Explosion allows Metagross to go out with a bang by killing things that would otherwise trouble my team like Swampert, Machamp, Hippowdon, and other fat pokes, and doing heavy damage to, if not OHKOing, things that resist it as well. Lum Berry allows Metagross to shrug off Dynamicpunch, Spore, and Thunder Wave, in order of annoyance, retaliate with Meteor Mash and finish it off with Bullet Punch, or Explode.
---
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers: The Special Wall, Healer, and Toxic Staller
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/6 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
Blissey is one of the most annoying pokemon to face in all of OU (at least in my opinion). Its massive HP and Special Defense makes it the premier special wall, and is the perfect Pokemon to fit in with my strategy. Wish allows it to heal the pokemon that can't heal themselves, namely Metagross and Heatran. However, it's main use is to keep Blissey alive, as the 2 mentioned Pokemon are meant to explode at sometime in their careers anyway. Protect allows Blissey to scout and switch out to an appropriate resistance/immunity. Seismic Toss is a basic damaging move that allows Blissey to do some damage and at least interrupt Calm Minders from going on unhindered. Finally, the most important move on this set is Toxic. Toxic allows Blissey to poison and mess up all Pokemon that happens to switch into it, except Steel and Poison types (which is what Will-o-wisp is for). With a combination of Toxic, Protect, and Wish, Blissey can herself easily outstall specially-based Pokemon that happen to stay in, and those who switch are inflicted with another Toxic. Dusknoir switches in on physical attackers, Steels, and Poisons, and cripple them with Will-o-wisp.
---
Skarmory (F) @ Shed Shell: The Physical Wall, Spiker, and Phazer/Shuffler
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/94 Spd/164 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
Skarmory completes the famous SkarmBliss defensive combo, and thus is also a staple in my stall-based team. It can switch in to quite a few of the physical threats that bother Blissey and proceed to set up or phaze them away, depending on the specific Pokemon. Taunt allows Skarmory to shut down other stall teams effectively, as well as certain stat boosters like Cradily that cannot be phazed out. Roost allows Skarmory to heal off entry damage and Brave Bird recoil, and allows it to really be a bitch in setting up and racking up entry damage. Spikes is probably the most important move on this set, as 3 full layers + SR = 37% damage just from switching in. Along with the final move on this set, Whirlwind, Skarmory can easily shuffle the enemy team and rack up large amounts of entry damage. In addition, Whirlwind lets Skarmory scout and phaze stat boosters. Shed Shell allows Skarmory to switch out against Magnezone to Blissey.
---
Dusknoir (F) @ Leftovers: The Spinblocker, Physical-attacker-crippler, and Mixed Wall
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/30 Atk/228 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Will-o-wisp
- Pain Split
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
Dusknoir is probably one of the most important players on my team, and is the namesake of it as well (as well as the awesome song by deadmau5). Although at first sight Dusknoir doesn't do much, but in reality, it does 3 important tasks. 1. Block Rapid Spin, 2. Cripple physical attackers, Steels, and Poisons, and 3. to a lesser extent, heavily damage fat pokes with massive HP while healing itself at the same time. For a team that greatly relies on entry hazards, status kill, and few hyper offensive Pokemon to kill enemy stall annoyances, Dusknoir fulfills all of these tasks and does a very good job at it. Will-o-wisp, the most important move on this set, cripples Steel and Poison types, as well as physical attackers that Blissey doesn't dare stay in against. On a side note, Dusknoir also switches into the Fighting-type attacks that Blissey is weak to with impunity, and proceeds to cripple them with burn. Pain Split allows Dusknoir to heal itself while simultaneously damage enemy Pokemon. Dusknoir having a relatively low HP, almost every enemy Pokemon will be damaged by Pain Split, so little prediction is required. Earthquake is used to kill Heatran, the one Pokemon that is immune to both Toxic and Will-o-wisps, as well as finish off slow Pokemon that have been greatly damaged by entry hazards/status. Ice Punch is just filler to hit Flying-types, which my team actually has no super-effective attacks against.
OR
Rotom-W @ Leftovers: The Spinblocker
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/168 Def/88 Spe
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
---
Heatran (F) @ Choice Scarf: The Revenge Killer, Fire Absorber, and Annoying-thing-killer
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SAtk/6 SDef
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion
- Dragon Pulse
Heatran fulfills an important role in my team, and that is revenge killing. If a powerful sweeper manages to plow through my wall of SkarmBlissNoir, Heatran is required to OHKO it with the respective move. In addition, it switches into the Fire moves aimed at Metagross and Skarmory, and can retaliate with Earth Power or Fire Blast if one predicts that the other will switch out. Fire Blast is the basic STAB move and is boosted to 270 BP if Heatran switches into a Fire attack, courtesy of Flash Fire. Earth Power hits enemy Heatran as well as other fires for super-effective damage. Dragon Pulse covers the Dragons that resist Fire and are immune to Ground. Finally, Explode takes out the annoying things that no other members of your team really has a easy time with, but only when the enemy team is spent and weakened, except in special circumstances.
---
Dragonite (F) @ Life Orb: The Cleanup Guy, Late-Game Sweeper, and Stall Breaker
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 118 Atk/192 Spe/200 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Superpower
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Extremespeed
The final member of my team, Dragonite cleans up the remnants of the enemy crippled by entry hazards, status, and random explosions here and there. Superpower allows Dragonite to be a deadly stallbreaker by OHKOing Blissey, as well as Tyranitar, Heatran, and other things, due to its massive 403 Attack stat. Draco Meteor is a basic STAB attack and dents everything that doesn't resist it. Flamethrower provides coverage against Scizor, Forretress, and other Steels. Extremespeed gives Dragonite the ability to pick off weakened Pokemon that it could not outspeed otherwise. Life Orb maximizes Dragonite's attack output, changing many 2HKOs into OHKOs after entry hazard damage.
---
And there it is! Metagross, Blissey, Skarmory, Dusknoir, Heatran, and Dragonite combine their might to form Ghosts N Stuff. Now, I know this team is far from being a good team, so I would greatly appreciate any comments/criticisms on how to improve. Thank you!