Team AA Battery || OU || Bulky Offense

[Not Applicable]

Overview:



I just love the awkwardness of the second frame sprites, but that's just me. Now that you've seen the team, you should decide if you want to stay or not. If you did, thank you. I have never really been active in the forums here, but I've lurked for a hell of a long time. That said, I'd like you to take a closer look at the team, and help me out if you can. This team can be used effectively online, but I want to build it for Wifi, so I'd like to get it right the first time.

Intro:
As far as teams go, this one is pretty damn standard. It is called Team AA Battery because it is a common, reliable team. It is also named as such because it uses what is essentially a double core centered around Tyranitar. It consists of two groups of pokemon that have great synergy together, one being the Tyranitar/Swampert/Vaporeon combination which forms a great defensive core, coupled with the Tyranitar/Heatran/Gengar core, which provides an offensive approach and many useful checks to various threats. The last spot went to Roserade to clean up Toxic Spikes for Tyranitar and Vappy whilst laying down her own Spikes. Also as a side note, this team sports a number of immunities which makes switching into attacks much easier in general.

Game Plan:
The idea of this team is to force many switches through offensive and defensive pressure. The first part of the core, Swampert/Vaporeon/Tyranitar, will provide good stability and the defensive backbone of the team with wish support as well as checking and countering certain threats like Dragonite, Gyarados, and Infernape. The second half is focused on eliminating pokemon that would hinder another, complementing each other and striving toward a common purpose. This team also welcomes passive damage and hazards, as laying down spikes, the rocks and having sandstorm will help make short work of teams with many life orb users or that rely on continuous switching and checking. It also enjoys the benefits of paralysis to get an edge on the opponent and make up for the low speed of its members. Through rating and editing, this team has come to function more as a specially based team than a balanced team based on Tyranitar. There are also elements that are characteristic in the now popularized Fire/Water/Grass core teams with Heatran, Vappy and Roserade.

I get kind of annoyed at the repetitive images seen in RMT's so I made my own; I hope you like them.

Changes in BOLD

In Depth



Swampert (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240HP | 216Def | 52SpD
Nature: Jolly
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Protect
- Stealth Rock

Description: After much testing, Swampert was decidedly better for the team because it could check Tyranitar, Mixed Dragonite, and boosted Electivire, which wrecked my team nearly every time I faced them. He is also able to block explosions from the likes of lead Metagross, Azelf, and mid-game Magnezone and Heatran with a minimal amount of prediction thanks to Protect. Stealth Rock rounds out the set with the near mandatory entry hazard. The only loss which I truly mourn is that of a second Ground Immunity, which makes my life harder.

EVs: Pretty standard EVs off of smogon's strategy guide, referred to by G NuBz. Great defensive potential with some added SpD to help against Dragonite and possibly Heatran.

Teamwork: Provides a very useful Electric immunity and Rock resist. He is the teams go-to Dragonite and Tyranitar check and has surprising longevity thanks to wish support and protect. He also has a wonderfully large amount of wasteable stealth rock PP for when stalling and outlasting other pokemon's PP.



Vaporeon (F) @ leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188HP | 252Def | 70Spd
Nature: Bold
- Wish
- Protect
- Surf
- HP [electric]

Description: Vaporeon has been and will be my favorite pokemon ever. It is incredibly useful on this team, providing wish support and giving other team members a new lease on life. He checks so many things it's not even funny. Protect is very helpful to scout out choiced opponents and block explosions, most notably from Heatran. Surf is STAB and is most useful against the things that Vappy is used against, Heatran and Infernape being two of them. HP [electric] is for Gyarados, who is an enormous threat and would 6-0 me quite often otherwise.

EVs: I saw these EVs on Scofield's RMT: Welcome to Fabletown. Good lefties number in HP and max Def to tank hits. The speed EVs let me outrun weakened Tyranitar, Metagross, Magnezone and Scizor who do not invest in much speed.

Teamwork: Vappy is useful in countering Gyarados and fire types. Water Absorb lets me survive Rain Dance teams and stall the 8 turns. It is also who I go to first to check Swampert, because it does decently against it.



Tyranitar (F) @ choice band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248HP | 104Atk | 156SpD
Nature: Adamant
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

Description: Tyranitar is the man (woman) of the team and what keeps it going, giving an incredible offensive and defensive behemoth to work with. Many pokemon such as Forretress and Skarm now invest heavily in Special Defense, which causes them to lose a lot more damage when they switch in. He is there to blow holes in the opposing team mid game, and is often there to clean up when the other team is either sufficiently weakened or plagued by paralysis.

EVs: Credit goes to Kingdrom from his RMT: Bury the Hatchet. Just to give you some perspective on how great these are, I quote:

First, 252 Ev's were invested in Hp, which ensures survival of CB Scizor Bullet Punch after SR over 90% of the time, as well as contributing to general bulkiness. The SDef Ev's allow him to survive two Surfs from 299 SAtk (Leftovers Starmie) as well as never falling from three consecutive Earth Powers from Timid Heatran after SR. The rest was placed into attack, with an extra point taken from Hp (because it happened to be insignificant in the above objectives) and put into attack to yield a jump point. Overall, this Tyranitar reaches 403 Hp, 544 Attack, and 412 SDef. To give a comparison, this Tyranitar gives up roughly 10% of its power when compared to max attack CB Tar, but is 16% more defensive on the special side.

Teamwork: This guy is invaluable to the team. He starts Sandstorm, gives Roserade a 100 base power rock move in the form of weather ball. He also beats on the other team until they're about ready to give up, then gets a wish passed and beats on them some more. He also takes out opposing Heatran and Blissey that would otherwise wall Magnezone. I can't get over how great this guy is.



Heatran (F) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 36HP | 252SpA | 220Spe
Nature: Mild (+SpA, -Def)
- Explosion
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power Grass

Description: Heatran took over in the place of Magnezone. What Heatran brings to the table is quite significant also, because it allows me to keep constant offensive pressure while it is out, threatening numerous pokemon with its high powered and versatile moves. Heatran also allows me to threaten Scizor, Skarmory through Fire Blast and Blissey through Explosion, who would otherwise prove to be problematic for the team. Shuca Berry was chosen over Passho Berry because Earthquake is a much too common move and is too threatening, especially since I have only one Immunity and two weaknesses to it.

EVs: The given EVs set this Heatran at 245 speed, a number that outruns Jolly Tyranitar, as well as all those who EV to outspeed it by one point. Max special attack for obvious reasons and A few HP EVs give it more bulk.

Teamwork: Heatran helps this team out a lot thanks to the pressure it puts on my opponent to never make the wrong switch in and always be having second guesses. The coverage it gets, especially from HP (Grass) allows it to get many surprise KOs against the likes of Swampert expecting me not being able to touch it. The team has taken a turn towards being very specially oriented, and Blissey would be a pain in the ass without Explosion (I relied on Tyranitar and Gengar, but that wasnt always sufficient, especially with the pokemon Blissey is usually paired with), which frees up the other team members to wreak havoc.



Gengar (F) @ leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4HP | 252SpA | 252Spe
Nature: Timid
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

Description: This guy has the other guy tearing his hair out. Substitute and Pain Split make him impossibly hard to hit, and give him some longevity with relatively reliable recovery, sapping the opponent's health. The combination of Shadow Ball and Focus Blast hits everything for full neutral coverage, and so he can't easily be walled. Possibly by Blissey, but she is taken care of by Tyranitar. Also a great spin blocker, and loves the free switch-ins.

EVs: Standard stuff. Max Speed so I'm not lagging, and max SpA so I can hit stuff hard.

Teamwork: An all around pain in the ass, Gengar has some real staying power once he sets up. He has been very useful in countering Lucario and luring out Scizor to be dealt with by Magnezone. He often causes many frustration switches which racks up even more damage from spikes and stealth rock and sandstorm.



Roserade: (F) @ leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252HP | 120Def | 136SpD
Nature: Calm
- Grass Knot
- Weather Ball
- Spikes
- Stun Spore

Description: I don't really know what I was doing when I got this guy, he lays down spikes which is nice to have considering the number of switches this team causes. He also has stun spore, which, for those of you who do not know, hits ground types. That means I can hit Flygon, Gliscor and Hippowdon with paralysis and severely hamper their ability to do their jobs, scouting and stallbreaking, respectively. Grass Knot is understandable, it hits bulky waters and gives me a fallback plan against Swampert and Gyarados. Weather Ball becomes a 100BP rock attack which is very helpful against many threats such as Zapdos, Dragonite, and Scizor. It can also be used effectively against Rain Dance teams as a 150BP move with which to bash Bronzong and the like.

EVs: Many people overlook Roserade's special bulk, so this set makes the best of it. It can survive a CB Scizor bullet punch after SR, and can tank some special hits.

Teamwork: Roserade was the last addition to the team, and has a lot on its plate, maybe too much. Anyways, it provides Spikes support, which the team welcomes. It gives Para support which is also helpful. But the reason which makes it most welcome is that it cleans up the Toxic Spikes that would make Vaporeon's and Tyranitar's lives miserable.


So that seems to be it. The team that can abuses switching to gain the advantage on the opponent while pressuring them offensively and parrying their attacks defensively. Spikes, Paralysis, Substitutes and reliable recovery all make this team a bitch to face. So please rate, and for some closure, let's have the sprites at their best:
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The Ones Without Staying Power:

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Magnezone @ leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 172HP | 252SpA | 84Spe
Nature: Modest
- Thunderbolt
- HP [grass]
- Substitute
- Thunder Wave

NOTE: I am changing this set to Shuca Heatran as displayed in Faladran's post below. I do not have time to update this right now, but please refer to it when rating until I can make the change

Description: Providing the first paralysis support, Magnezone helps slow down the other guy's game while allowing my guys to go first most of the time. Substitute is extremely useful in giving me a pseudo-scouting move to hide behind. He takes out most troublesome steels, such as Skarm and Forretress, unless they have Shed Shell, which hasn't been too common lately. All the special attack EVs and boosting nature coming off one of the highest base special attack stats in the game really hurts, and most people underestimate what this guy can do.

EVs: I saw this on the Smog, and I do not really know what they do. All I know is that they've been working damn fine.

Teamwork: He takes out the defensive steels hindering Tyranitar and Gengar whilst slowing down the opposition where he can. Not that much else to be said. Substitute gives me a safety net, so he can get off after his job is done without much hassle. Thunder Wave has proven to be invaluable for team support.



Gliscor (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252HP | 4Def | 252Spd
Nature: Jolly
- Earthquake
- Taunt
- Roost
- Stealth Rock

Description: Gliscor is best suited to lead the team. He can reliably set up stealth rock and can often stop other leads from doing the same with taunt. He is best against slower leads, and is never kept out for long at the start, especially since he is most effective late game when sandstorm has been set up and the opponent gets frustrated enough to give me certain opportunities to set up my other pokemon.

EVs: Pretty standard EVs. Didn't want to be outpaced by other Gliscor while retaining a decent amount of bulk, etc.

Teamwork: He is the teams go-to lucario check and stall breaker. He can do so easily by alternating taunting and roosting. He also has a wonderfully large amount of wasteable stealth rock PP for when stalling and outlasting other pokemon's PP.

Credit goes to PokemonElite2000 for the sprites

[G NuBz]

Solid team. Only threat I see is Expert Belt Electivire:
-Ice Punch
-Thunder Punch
-Cross Chop
-Earthquake

With that moveset, Electivire could take out most of your team with ease, especially since you have no Scarfer. The only thing that would have a chance would be Tyranitar, thanks to its bulk. I recommend replacing Gliscor with Tank/Lead Swampert. Swampert would be able to take anything Electivire throws at it and OHKO with Earthquake.

[Aerrow]

Great team.

Threats

• Mix Dragonite
  
• Dragon Dance Gyarados
• Offensive Infernape (SD/NP)
• Slight LO Shaymin Problem

This is a great team you have here, as it is able to combat many of the common threats we see in today's standard metagame while also being able to magnificently conduct its own nicely designed offensive strategy in preparation for an efficient victory. However, I see a couple of Pokemon that can present problems to your team's success if they are given the chance to set up; MixNite and to an extent, Mixed Electivire, present huge threats as your team possesses no "true" revenge killer or check to these Pokemon. Dragon dance Gyarados also seems to e a huge problems as it if it able to get a DD off, it can quite easily KO most of your team, while also hugely denting the portion of your team who might be able to stand up to a +1 Gyarados if they are at a sufficient amount of help. Infernape, as well as the former threats, poses to be an equally great problem as if it is able to gain a SD or NP and has a priority move in its arsenal (Mach Punch/Vacuum Wave), its almost assured that by the time your team has managed to bring the threat down, it will more or less be in ruins. Lastly, it seems you have a slight offensive Shaymin problem as if left alone, it can heavily damage your team, although Gengar and Roserade can form a duo that can incapacitate and eventually eliminate the gratitude Pokemon.

Solutions

• Choice Scarf Starmie

Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SpAtk
Modest nature (+SpAtk,-Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Luckily, I can think of a Pokemon that can effectively deal with all of the aforementioned threats while also helping improve and strengthen the overall structure of team and its strategy. Choice scarf Starmie is what I have in mind. It can quite easily take down all of the aforementioned threats through these tactics: Dragonite is outpaced and KOd by Ice Beam, Gyarados, even at +1 is outpaced and KOd with Thunderbolt, Infernape is defeated through Surf and lastly, Shaymin can be worn down through Ice Beam (clean 2HKO). Moving on, Starmie can help strengthen your team's overall offensive core, as I think it is not as good as it could be seeing that most of your offensively based Pokemon also are supposed to provide support. Starmie can replace either Magnazone or Gengar on your team although I think removing the former Pokemon for Starmie would be a better choice seeing as this team relies on Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes to successfully win in a battle, and it would be a shame to have a Pokemon like Forretress spin away all of these entry hazards because you lacked a spin blocker. I hop this rate has helped, and good luck!

[Gear2]

Hi, nice team. I love the Gengar, Tyranitar, Magnezone core. Anyway, i suggest Explosion on Magnezone, your team already have Roserade to beat Swampert. Why do you have to waste 1 slot of Magnezone while you could use Swampert as set up bait for Roserade?

And you should change Leftovers from Gengar to Life Orb. Gengar can easily regains health with pain split.

Dragon dance Gyarados also seems to e a huge problems as it if it able to get a DD off, it can quite easily KO most of your team, while also hugely denting the portion of your team who might be able to stand up to a +1 Gyarados if they are at a sufficient amount of help. Infernape, as well as the former threats, poses to be an equally great problem as if it is able to gain a SD or NP and has a priority move in its arsenal (Mach Punch/Vacuum Wave), its almost assured that by the time your team has managed to bring the threat down, it will more or less be in ruins.

He already has Vaporeon to check Gya and Infernape

[Not Applicable]

@G NuBs: Thank you for the pointer. I have run into a few Electivire and have been able to play around them, but I've never faced one with a boost under its belt. I suppose that Swampert could help in the place of Gliscor, but that would leave me with many grass weaknesses. I'll still test it to be sure though.
EDIT: Swampert has actually worked decently and usually lives longer than Gliscor despite the lack of reliable recovery and greatly helps my Dragonite weakness. I don't think I need Gliscor as an added Lucario check because I have Gengar, but I'll continue testing and see how it changes.

@Aerrow: That was a really in-depth rate, thanks. :) I'm quite familiar with the scarfmie set, the one worry that I have is that it will force me to switch more often instead of forcing my opponent and I will lose the offensive edge, paralysis, and substitute foresight. It also leaves me very pursuit weak and I may run into problems with Scizor. I'll test it out for sure, but I think a leadpert with EQ/Ice Beam/Protect/SR would do fine to solve my dragonite weak... except that I lose taunt, an EQ immunity and reliable recovery... it's a tough decision to be sure. Anyone have any advice on where to go?
EDIT: After testing I realized that switching Maggy to Scarfmie gives me no Rock resists, more Grass weaknesses than resists and U-turners/pursuiters walk all over this team. Tyranitar, Scizor and any Grass type will have a field day.

@Gear2: I think that Magnezone is more useful alive tbh. There aren't really that many pokemon besides Maggy that would mind Blissey being in their face as the rest of my team can shut it down. I will not change Lefties to LO because between Stealth Rock, Sandstorm, LO and Substitute Gengar would be dead in an instant.

Any more feedback is appreciated.

[Faladran]

This looks like a pretty nice team! It seems that you have most offensive threats covered quite well, so I don't see any major weaknesses. Overall, the team is apparently comprised of two cores: the Gliscor (now Swampert) / Vaporeon / Tyranitar combination that was popular in earlier metagames, and the Tyranitar / Gengar / Magnezone trio that was featured in a previous Smog issue. These cores are quite good defensively, but your lack of a defensively solid Fire-type makes opposing Grass-types (notably Shaymin) somewhat problematic to deal with. I feel that Magnezone is the most replaceable member of this team, so it may be beneficial to switch it with a more useful Pokemon. Aerrow's suggestion of Scarf Starmie does give you a very capable revenge killer, but it also unfortunately results in a greater weakness to U-turners like Scizor (who you already have trouble switching into). Additionally, using Swampert fixes up your weakness to DD Dragonite, which makes Scarfmie less necessary. I think that either a Passho or Shuca Heatran set could be a good replacement for Magnezone, as it would give you a solid switch-in to Grass-type attackers:

Heatran @ Shuca Berry / Passho Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Nature: Mild (+SpA, -Def)
- Explosion
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power Grass

The choice of item is largely dependant on which opposing threat you feel is more of a problem: Shaymin with Earth Power or LO Starmie. Shuca Berry will allow Heatran to survive most Ground-type attacks and retaliate back, while Passho prevents Starmie from OHKOing with Hydro Pump, letting you KO back with either HP Grass (if Starmie is weakened) or Explosion. Keep in mind, however, that Roserade is bulky enough to survive an Ice Beam from Starmie and hit back hard with Grass Knot, as long as it is healthy enough. Heatran's moveset is fairly simple: Explosion to take out Special walls, Fire Blast / Flamethrower to provide STAB, Earth Power to hit opposing Heatran, and HP Grass to take out Swampert and other Water-types. You can experiment with the EVs, but I like this spread because it manages to outspeed Jolly Tyranitar while maximizing Heatran's offensive firepower.

Good luck!

[Not Applicable]

Thank you Faladran for the rate. I tested the Heatran set you posted and it works amazingly well. It's good to have a solid special attacker with decent speed that puts continuous pressure on the opposing team. The Explosion is also extremely welcome, as the team has shifted away from being based around tyranitar and more towards eliminating my opponent's special walls and checks.

I have also tested Roar over Protect on Pert and it does amazingly against baton pass teams, flubbing up their Ninjask before it can set up. It's also been extremely useful in abusing the hazards Roserade provides. I might miss the small leftovers recovery and scouting Protect gave me, but Roar has proven to be more useful overall.