Introduction
As most of you already know the BW OU tier is a fast changing metagame, especially thanks to the fact that Pokemon are being added and removed from the tier with each passing round, continuing to add to the fast-paced evolution of the tier. I came into this rather late, as at first, many changes and features were brought to the Pokemon competitive scene from the new generation that I wasn't fond of. Thus, I narrowly joined the fray right at the end of the Suspect testing Round 1. Afterwards, I planned on participating in Round 2, and I was determined to be quite versatile and different from the others with my choice of team. I was afraid that BW wasn't going to be a pleasant metagame to play in at first, as it seemed to be an unstable metagame with all the overpowered Pokemon that were once Uber last generation. But after Darkrai, Skymin, and Deoxys A/N had moved onto Ubers, it was a refreshed metagame and I was ready to jump in.
From keeping an eye out at the metagame before I decide to jump in, I knew right away what kind of Pokemon were popular, and how I would have to deal with them. After many strenuous days of scoping the metagame, I was ready to create my team. So I picked my "lead" and ended up with what was kind of a random team with acceptable synergy. I tweaked the team from time to time trying to resolve every weakness I can find. And the end result was that it is possibly one of my best unplanned teams to date.
As far as accomplishments go for this rather unorthodox team; It did get me and a few other people voting requirements in Round 2. It also helped me to reach the Semi-Finals of the first official BW OU tournament where I lost in a very close game with Earthworm (whom ended up winning the tournament).
Without further ado I present you all my original BW team.
The Team
Deoxys-S @ Expert Belt
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 40 Atk / 252 SAtk / 216 Spd
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Hidden Power Fire
- Spikes
This set used to be amazing. Originally, this set was inspired by my 4th gen Uber set that had great effectiveness. This is pretty much the most anti-metagame set on the team, although not the only one. Basically, at the time of this teams peak in usefulness, Scizor or Tyranitar were on almost every non rain team, if not both on the same team. The given EV spread and attacks allowed Deoxys-S to ohko most variants of both Scizor and Tyranitar. Due to the fact that BW has brought the team preview feature, I would always "lead" with this Deoxys, and most of the time my opponent would send in Tyranitar or Scizor immediately if they had one, Deoxys-S would then quickly dispose of either, sometime both back to back. If the opponent didn't go "wtf? who uses that" and rage quit directly after, their team now was missing 1/3 of its teamates, and I generally had the match won by turn 3. Not only was Deoxys-s so good at what it does, when I played vs teams that didn't have at least one of those, such as rain typically, I almost had guaranteed dual layers. Just such an amazing Pokemon. This set did lose some luster with the popularity of Chople Tyranitar rising later in the round, it is still an amazing Pokemon for teams which aren't as well equipped to deal with it.
Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 228 HP / 16 Atk / 200 SAtk / 64 Spd
Lonely Nature
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Fire Blast
- Pursuit
This variant of Tyranitar I noticed had become the most popular, although usually seen with Stealth Rock and Leftovers, Deoxys-s was reliable enough for Stealth Rock, which gave Tyranitar a little more room to work with. Lum Berry easily became such a trump card for Tyranitar, letting it work fantastically against teams utilizing Skarmory, Blissey, and Jellicent etc (aka defensive or stall teams) as well as gave me a great way to deal with Latios / Latias, and another way to deal with Reuniclus. Pursuit also was valuable when engaging in weather wars, as it in addition to hazards damage, Ninetales and Politoed switching in and out would also get hit by Pursuit to quickly limit how long they can last through the match. Lum Berry also helps against WoW from the aforementioned Ninetales, which pretty much means when played correctly; you should almost always win against Sun. The EV's may seem somewhat random, but they hit a jump point in attack, give you enough special attack to hit Ferrothorn, Virizion, and others as hard on the switch. The speed allows you to outrun 20Spe Scizor, and nearly every Tyranitar I have come across. It is usually better to be safe than sorry. The rest of the EV's go into my bulk, to help sponge pokemon like Latios, Heatran, Chandelure, and Ninetails marginally better. While I know some people run Low Kick on their Tyranitar, I prefer Superpower for the reliability. This is a weather centralized metagame, it is not like Tyranitar will be staying in for long either way for the stat drop to matter.
Landorus @ Expert Belt
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Hidden Power Ice
- Earthquake
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
At the time, this set was of great benefit to the team. Most Landorus you see were Choice Scarf, using Expert Belt as a bluff early game let me fire off Earthquake and Stone Edge to give my opponent the impression Landorus was scarfed... once I found the right time that I was sure the opponent would switch, or that Landorus had the opportunity, I'd have him fire off a Rock Polish and decimate the opponents team with sand boosted STAB Earthquake, Stone edge for coverage, and Hidden Power Ice to break through Gliscor, Breloom, and other Landorus. Another thing about it was that bluffing a Choice Scarf was valuable in scaring off two of this teams only major problems at the time; Quiver Dance Volcarona and Blaziken. Landorus shares Gliscor's strong solid defensive typing, although it isn't nearly as bulky. While Landorus has decreased in play quite a bit due to Skarmory and Rotom W, it is still a very strong pokemon and it would be advised not to underestimate it with proper team support. I've also tried Life Orb here, but the bluff has seemed to be a greater boon than the power.
Scizor @ Lum Berry
Trait: Technician
EVs: 236 HP / 244 Atk / 12 SDef / 16 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
Swords Dance Scizor is really solid right now. With excellent resists, solid priority, STAB, and enough coverage to get the job done; sweeping early on isn't exactly uncommon. Sometimes I play Scizor aggressively early game to break a hole for Latios or Breloom, but I find Scizor ideal late game when he can pick most things off with Bullet Punch. Superpower is chosen over Brick Break since it hits Ferrothorn harder if you have no time to SD, and it can hit Magnezone and Heatran on the switch. It also hits Skarmory much harder. Bug Bite is basically your wallbreaking STAB for pokemon such as Hippowdon, Gastrodon, Bronzong, and Reuniclus. You can deal with every one of those pokemon, and oddball pokemon like Swampert and Metagross after a Swords Dance very well. Lum Berry looks terrible at a glance, It also allows Scizor to defeat Will-o-Wisp Rotom-W and take on other random status such as sleep. The EV's speed creep other Scizor and Tyranitar, maximize my bulk, while retaining my ability to hit hard. Sometimes I wish I had Bronzong when I play against a Garchomp, but Scizor makes a pretty good switch into it, and can take an Outrage if needed. It is also an important ice resist, for those annoying teams which run Mamoswine.
Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Focus Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Mach Punch
- Spore
I love Breloom and it has dropped in usage severely, which makes it even more effective as teams tend to be less ready to lose a Pokemon to the sleep buff this generation, along with substitute and Focus Punch almost certainly taking out another Pokemon later. It provides a rock resist, and other helpful resistances. While people may frown upon Breloom due to being Gliscor bait, it can't come into early game Breloom if it's Toxic Orb hasn't activated, also more often than not I've been able to take out the opposing Gliscor through bluffing correctly with Landorus. while SD Scizor is always capable of defeating a weakened Gliscor. I originally used Mach Punch to help with Excadril, but I think I like Sub better since it gives Focus Punch much more safety. Seed Bomb is good for Jellicant, Hippodown, fighting resists, and good for when it is too risky to Focus Punch. Another reason why I wanted to use Breloom is because I predicted a stall base metagame, and I knew Breloom was more than capable of destroying Ferrothorn / Jellicent cores. Breloom seems to be my primary Tyranitar switch in nowadays, and if they do not have Lum Berry they are pretty much out cold for the rest of the match. Toxic Orb allows me to absorb status, and helps make the sand damage a bit more tolerable.
Latios @ Wise Glasses
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power Fire
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Surf
A suspect, and it isn't hard to see why. Great STAB, speed, power, coverage, and resists. Most of the metagame wouldn't like to take hits from Latios. I tried Specs, Life Orb, but I often found my opponents switching in Ferrothorn and Scizor most of the time. So I decided to take advantage of such common plays by using Wise Glasses to bluff Specs, while giving me a bit of a power boost as well. I feel Latios lost a lot of its shine once people realized that SpD Jirachi is a hard counter, but with residual damage, and a possible hit here and there from Scizor, and Tyranitar, Latios could defeat it over time. Surf is very useful for Heatran, Tyranitar, Gliscor, and neutral coverage. Hidden Power Fire deals with Forretress, Skarmory, Scizor, and Ferrothorn. I used to run Psycho Shock on Latios, but without the power from a Life Orb or Specs it usually doesn't have the reliability against Blissey. I just chose Psychic for reliable late game sweeping, and to help against Conkeldurr. Often I do miss the sheer power of Choice Specs, and it does create a double-sword effect at times, as some moments I couldn't be more glad I had Wise Glasses, and times where if I just had the extra power I would have gotten a KO.
Conclusion
I've missed using this team now that the metagame has drastically altered, and its effectiveness and surprise factor has dwindled immensely over being used over the months. I did have two pretty big problems when using the team, and they came in the form of Blaziken and Volcarona. Blaziken could potentially sweep the team If it got a Swords Dance off, so I made sure to never let it set up without at least taking a good hit. This problem soon disappeared after Blaziken left though. Volcarona on the other hand will always be a problem for this team, but as I usually got Stealth Rock up right away if I seen it on my opponent's team, it was never worth altering my team's function to try and cope with it, and I didn't lose to it often enough for it to ever be too big of a problem, especially as if I rarely did misplay against it, surprisingly enough bluffing Scarf Landorus saved me occasionally as well.
What really made this team work so well honestly was that most of my Pokemon could capitalize on being able to deal significant damage or even OHKO their common counters. Such as Landorus being able to take out Gliscor, Deoxys taking down Tyranitar and Scizor, Latios and Tyranitar taking down Ferrothorn... I could go on for awhile.
This team has long since retired and I don't believe I'll ever use it again, but I thought it'd be nice to give it a lasting goodbye into the metagame long past, and I'm sure a number of you will have recognized this team when reading the above. Thank you!
Offensive Threats
Aerodactyl - Can be a little annoying but is beaten and/or handled by scizor
Archeops - Pretty much nonexistent, even in stage two, but Rocks and priority basically kill it.
Azelf - Tyranitar handles most varieties of Azelf pretty well, Deo-S Taunts leads, and Scizor can revenge kill it. Latios can take most of its hits.
Bisharp - Bisharp can be problematic since STAB Sucker Punch can OHKO Latios and Iron head can KO Tyranitar, but Scizor deals with it with Superpower.
Breloom - It usually comes into my Tyranitar and fails to spore me due to Lum berry, and then is ohko'd by Fire Blast. If not, wait till Breloom comes in i usually take the Spore with the least useful Pokemon on my team, and then go into Latios to KO it.
Chandelure - Rocks and Spikes hurt it a fair amount, Tyranitar can switch in on anything except HP Fighting and Pursuit it, and Latios and Landorus can revenge non scarf sets.
Cobalion - Another mon not really seen (during stage two and in the rounds following), and it can't switch in on anything really and Latios, Deoxys, and Breloom can all revenge it.
Conkeldurr - Conkeldurr is dealt with by Latios easily.
Darmanitan - Sun wasn't big stage two, so Darmanitan was pretty uncommon, but Latios beats it, Landorus can take Superpowers and U-Turns and beat it with Earthquake, and Scizor and Breloom can revenge with minimal prior damage.
Deoxys-S - Besides entry hazards, Deoxys-S can't really do much to my team. I usuaully just lead with Scizor and Bug Bite + Bullet Punch
Dragonite - Choice Band dragonite was nearly non existant in round 2 as far as I know. DDNite can be irritating, but with Multiscale broken by rocks, it can't do much.
Druddigon - Scizor handles it well.
Eelektross - Tyranitar and Latios can take care of it pretty well.
Electivire - Latios can switch in on anything but Ice Punch/HP Ice, as can Landorus, and both can KO with Draco Meteor and Earth Power respectively.
Emboar - Nobody uses this, but Latios and Landorus both handle it well.
Empoleon - It walls Latios, but that's basically it, since everything else on the team is capable of killing it with Earthquake/Superpower (or in Breloom's case, Focus Punch).
Espeon - Typically poses little actual threat to my team
Escavalier - Pretty much nonexistent, and though nothing on the team can switch in, Latios, Deoxys, and Tyranitar are all capable of beating it.
Excadrill - Mach punch with Breloom.
Garchomp - Garchomp is dealt with easily by Landorus (HP Ice) and Latios (Draco Meteor). Scizor takes Outrages from scarf sets.
Gengar - beaten by Scizor and Landorus because they can both take Shadow Balls and Focus Blasts
Golurk - Latios and Breloom can both beat it, but neither really switches in that well. Golurk's pretty rarely used though, even less so during stage two.
Gyarados - Beaten by Landorus and Latios.
Haxorus - Everyone thought Haxorus blew in r2 iirc and I dont even remember fighting any. (because it wasnt popular until the recent CB set) but haxorus was handled by almost any pokemon on my team due to its frailty.
Heatran - Dealt with easily by landorus thanks to earthquake. Latios also does a lot of damage to it with surf. Breloom and Deoxys can beat weakened Heatran.
Heracross - Basically unused during round two, but Scizor and Landorus can handle it pretty well.
Hydreigon - Specs is outsped by latios, scarf lets scizor switch in on draco meteor and lets it set-up. I might lose a Poke to Expert Belt sets, but those were pretty rare round two.
Infernape - Infernape was pretty much unused during round two, since the Blaziken ban had not taken place yet. Latios beats it anyhow.
Jirachi - Landorus KO's jirachi with earthquake and scizor can set-up on it. Latios can 2HKO more offensive Jirachi with HP Fire with minimal hazard support.
Jolteon - Tyranitar can Crunch or Pursuit it, Breloom can take a hit and Mach Punch or Spore, Latios beats it, and Landorus can beat choiced sets or sets running HP Grass.
Kingdra - Kingdra was a bitch round two, since the Drizzle + SS ban hadn't taken place yet, but the pretty standard core of weather changer + two checks (Latios and Breloom) allows it to be handled without too much trouble. Scizor and Tyranitar can take Draco Meteors.
Krookodile - Pretty much nonexistent, as far as I know, but anyhow, Breloom beats basically anything it runs.
Kyurem - Breloom and Scizor both hurt it, Tyranitar can switch in on anything but Focus Blast, and Latios outspeeds and KOs.
Landorus - Outsped and KO'd by Latios. Scizor hits it for a lot of damage as well.
Latios - Switch into ttar and pursuit trap it on the draco meteor. Scizor can take a Draco Meteor and Bullet Punch or Bug Bite.
Lilligant - Sun was somewhat uncommon round two, but the weather changer + two checks core holds true for it too, and Latios, Breloom, Scizor, and Tyranitar can all deal with it.
Lucario - It can't really set up anywhere. Latios beats specially based sets, and I can eventually wear it down to the point where Scizor can KO with bullet punch.
Machamp - Pretty much nonexistent round two since everyone used Roobushin.
Magnezone - The only steel that the team has to trap is Scizor, who can just Superpower it.
Mamoswine - Ice shard is really a nuicance, but it can be beatan by scizor thanks to bullet punch. Deoxys can beat it if Deo's still alive.
Metagross - Metagross was really uncommon round two, since it couldn't do shit to rain, but anyhow, Latios and Landorus can handle it.
Mienshao - Another mon that was pretty uncommon during round two, but Scizor and Breloom hit it hard with priority and Latios can beat it if I don't switch in on U-Turn.
Politoed - The weather war is annoying, but Latios and Breloom can both handle it as part of the standard stage two weather changer + two checks core. Nothing like taking repeated rain boosted Hydro Pumps though.
Reuniclus - Scizor deals with reuniclus nicely. TTar can Crunch for some damage.
Roserade - Landorus, Scizor, Tyranitar, and Latios all hit it pretty hard.
Rotom-W - Rotom-W was just starting to see popularity during stage two, but most sets were defensive and handled by Breloom or Latios.
Salamence - Salamence is outsped and KO'd by Latios, it is also beatan by Landorus. Scizor beats weakened Mence.
Sawsbuck - TTar changes the weather and then Latios can outspeed and KO. Breloom KOs with Mach Punch as well.
Scizor - Usually immediately lured in and OHKO'd by Deoxys, or, later on, by Latios.
Scrafty- Scrafty can be spored by breloom, and KO'd by focus punch. Scizor can also set-up on the dragon dance or bulk up set. Deoxys can Superpower if Deoxys is still around.
Shaymin - Latios handles it nicely.
Sigilyph - Cosmic Power Sigilyph didn't really start to see use until pretty late into stage three/early stage four.
Smeargle - Tyranitar can take the Spore thanks to Lum and then Superpower or Crunch it. Scizor and Breloom can hit it with Bullet Punch and Mach Punch before it sets up / passes boosts. Deoxys scares off leads with the threat of Taunt.
Starmie - In the rain starmie can be a major problem, so i have to win the weather war. Latios can take an ice beam and KO starmie with draco meteor. Scizor can also take a hydro pump and KO it with bug bite.
Terakion - Latios beats it pretty easily. Scizor and Breloom can also beat it.
Thundurus - NP sets can be irritating, so best just to not let it set up. Landorus can bluff scarf and beat it if it tries to set up on it, or come in later on and force it to switch by by bluffing scarf. Kinda annoying though.
Togekiss - Latios and Landorus both handle it with ease. Latios doesn't like taking Thunder Waves, and neither likes taking repeated Air Slashes though. Slower Togekiss are Spored.
Tornadus - Switch in Tyranitar to change the weather, switch to Latios or Scizor for Hammer Arm/U-Turn or just Pursuit if it's choice locked into Hurricane.
Tyranitar - Since most ttar are in the lead slot, deoxys-s KO's it with superpower. Scizor also beats it with bullet punch and superpower. Breloom can Spore it, since Lum Tar's pretty rare.
Venusaur - If i lose the weather war, venasaur can be problematic, especially if it gets a growth up. if it isn't boosted, Latios can take sludge bomb and KO it back with hidden power fire.
Victini - Tyranitar and Latios can both take V-Creates, though I have to be careful not to switch into U-Turns.
Virizion - Latios beats it with either Draco Meteor or Psychic pretty well.
Volcarona - Stealth Rock does 50% damage to it, so the best bet to countering this is landorus since stone edge can hit it for 4x super effective damage, if it doesnt get set up. Otherwise this is probably the hardest sweeper for my team to deal with.
Weavile - Scizor can Bullet Punch and Breloom can Mach Punch (though the latter has to be sort of careful of Ice Shard).
Defensive Threats
Blissey - Scizor and Breloom both beat it, and Tyranitar can hit it for a solid chunk of damage.
Bronzong - Breloom Spores, Scizor sets up on it, and Tyranitar and Latios both hit it pretty hard.
Celebi - Celebi was really uncommon during stage two, but Landorus and Latios both beat it.
Chansey - Scizor sets up on it, Breloom beats it, Landorus sets up fearing only Toxic, and hazards hurt it pretty badly.
Deoxys-D - Deo-D was pretty much unused stage two.
Dusclops - Ditto Deo-D.
Ferrothorn - Tyranitar, Scizor, Breloom, and Latios all hit it for solid chunks of damage. Deo-s lures it in and KOs with HP Fire, and Landorus wears it down pretty quickly with earthquake.
Forretress - Tyranitar, Latios, and Deoxys all beat it pretty easily. Scizor and Landorus set up on it.
Gliscor - Landorus lures it in and beats it (HP Ice Landorus wasn't quite commonplace during stage two) and Latios beats it.
Hippowdon - Latios and Breloom both handle it easily.
Jellicent - Breloom can Seed Bomb or Spore and doesn't fear status, and TTar and Latios hit it for a solid chunk of damage
Latias - Tyranitar beats pretty much all Latias. Hardly any run HP Fire so Scizor beats most of them as well.
Murkrow - Pretty much nonexistent during stage two.
Ninetales - Sun wasn't as big stage two, and duggy sun basically didn't exist, so Tyranitar could keep switching in. Latios and Landorus also beat Ninetails.
Politoed - Politoed itself isn't really a problem with Breloom and Latios, but rain teams in general were annoying stage two. Standard two checks + weather changer core works well in dealing with rain though.
Porygon2 - Breloom handles it fairly well, as does Scizor. Hazards and Sand mess it up a bit too.
Rotom-W - Breloom and Latios can take some hits and KO back.
Skarmory - Latios can surf or HP Fire, Tyranitar Fire Blasts it, and Deo-S hits hard with HP Fire.
Snorlax - Scizor, Tyranitar, and Breloom can handle most Snorlax pretty easily. CB sets can be annoying because they trap Latios though.
Suicune - Suicune was pretty much nonexistent stage two, but Breloom beats defensive versions while Hazards, Latios, and LO recoil wear down offensive versions.
Swampert - Pert basically sucks, but I guess Breloom handles it well enough. Latios hits it for a solid chunk of damage, as does Scizor.
Tentacruel - It spins my hazards, which is annoying, but doesn't really do much other than set TSpikes, which only hits TTar and Deo-S, so it's not really a threat.
Vaporeon - LO Hydration Rest Vappy was pretty much nonexistent stage two, thank god, and Latios and Breloom both handle defensive versions well. Scizor can hurt it pretty badly barring a scald burn.
Whimsicott - It Taunts Deo-S which is a pain, but basically the entire team handles it pretty well.
Xatu - If I see Xatu in the team preview I just play carefully with Deo-S early in the game so it can't reflect my hazards. A ton of stuff sets up on it and TTar hits it really hard.
Zapdos - Latios, Landorus, and Tyranitar all handle Zapdos.
As most of you already know the BW OU tier is a fast changing metagame, especially thanks to the fact that Pokemon are being added and removed from the tier with each passing round, continuing to add to the fast-paced evolution of the tier. I came into this rather late, as at first, many changes and features were brought to the Pokemon competitive scene from the new generation that I wasn't fond of. Thus, I narrowly joined the fray right at the end of the Suspect testing Round 1. Afterwards, I planned on participating in Round 2, and I was determined to be quite versatile and different from the others with my choice of team. I was afraid that BW wasn't going to be a pleasant metagame to play in at first, as it seemed to be an unstable metagame with all the overpowered Pokemon that were once Uber last generation. But after Darkrai, Skymin, and Deoxys A/N had moved onto Ubers, it was a refreshed metagame and I was ready to jump in.
From keeping an eye out at the metagame before I decide to jump in, I knew right away what kind of Pokemon were popular, and how I would have to deal with them. After many strenuous days of scoping the metagame, I was ready to create my team. So I picked my "lead" and ended up with what was kind of a random team with acceptable synergy. I tweaked the team from time to time trying to resolve every weakness I can find. And the end result was that it is possibly one of my best unplanned teams to date.
As far as accomplishments go for this rather unorthodox team; It did get me and a few other people voting requirements in Round 2. It also helped me to reach the Semi-Finals of the first official BW OU tournament where I lost in a very close game with Earthworm (whom ended up winning the tournament).
Without further ado I present you all my original BW team.
The Team
Deoxys-S @ Expert Belt
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 40 Atk / 252 SAtk / 216 Spd
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Hidden Power Fire
- Spikes
This set used to be amazing. Originally, this set was inspired by my 4th gen Uber set that had great effectiveness. This is pretty much the most anti-metagame set on the team, although not the only one. Basically, at the time of this teams peak in usefulness, Scizor or Tyranitar were on almost every non rain team, if not both on the same team. The given EV spread and attacks allowed Deoxys-S to ohko most variants of both Scizor and Tyranitar. Due to the fact that BW has brought the team preview feature, I would always "lead" with this Deoxys, and most of the time my opponent would send in Tyranitar or Scizor immediately if they had one, Deoxys-S would then quickly dispose of either, sometime both back to back. If the opponent didn't go "wtf? who uses that" and rage quit directly after, their team now was missing 1/3 of its teamates, and I generally had the match won by turn 3. Not only was Deoxys-s so good at what it does, when I played vs teams that didn't have at least one of those, such as rain typically, I almost had guaranteed dual layers. Just such an amazing Pokemon. This set did lose some luster with the popularity of Chople Tyranitar rising later in the round, it is still an amazing Pokemon for teams which aren't as well equipped to deal with it.
Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 228 HP / 16 Atk / 200 SAtk / 64 Spd
Lonely Nature
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Fire Blast
- Pursuit
This variant of Tyranitar I noticed had become the most popular, although usually seen with Stealth Rock and Leftovers, Deoxys-s was reliable enough for Stealth Rock, which gave Tyranitar a little more room to work with. Lum Berry easily became such a trump card for Tyranitar, letting it work fantastically against teams utilizing Skarmory, Blissey, and Jellicent etc (aka defensive or stall teams) as well as gave me a great way to deal with Latios / Latias, and another way to deal with Reuniclus. Pursuit also was valuable when engaging in weather wars, as it in addition to hazards damage, Ninetales and Politoed switching in and out would also get hit by Pursuit to quickly limit how long they can last through the match. Lum Berry also helps against WoW from the aforementioned Ninetales, which pretty much means when played correctly; you should almost always win against Sun. The EV's may seem somewhat random, but they hit a jump point in attack, give you enough special attack to hit Ferrothorn, Virizion, and others as hard on the switch. The speed allows you to outrun 20Spe Scizor, and nearly every Tyranitar I have come across. It is usually better to be safe than sorry. The rest of the EV's go into my bulk, to help sponge pokemon like Latios, Heatran, Chandelure, and Ninetails marginally better. While I know some people run Low Kick on their Tyranitar, I prefer Superpower for the reliability. This is a weather centralized metagame, it is not like Tyranitar will be staying in for long either way for the stat drop to matter.
Landorus @ Expert Belt
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Hidden Power Ice
- Earthquake
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
At the time, this set was of great benefit to the team. Most Landorus you see were Choice Scarf, using Expert Belt as a bluff early game let me fire off Earthquake and Stone Edge to give my opponent the impression Landorus was scarfed... once I found the right time that I was sure the opponent would switch, or that Landorus had the opportunity, I'd have him fire off a Rock Polish and decimate the opponents team with sand boosted STAB Earthquake, Stone edge for coverage, and Hidden Power Ice to break through Gliscor, Breloom, and other Landorus. Another thing about it was that bluffing a Choice Scarf was valuable in scaring off two of this teams only major problems at the time; Quiver Dance Volcarona and Blaziken. Landorus shares Gliscor's strong solid defensive typing, although it isn't nearly as bulky. While Landorus has decreased in play quite a bit due to Skarmory and Rotom W, it is still a very strong pokemon and it would be advised not to underestimate it with proper team support. I've also tried Life Orb here, but the bluff has seemed to be a greater boon than the power.
Scizor @ Lum Berry
Trait: Technician
EVs: 236 HP / 244 Atk / 12 SDef / 16 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
Swords Dance Scizor is really solid right now. With excellent resists, solid priority, STAB, and enough coverage to get the job done; sweeping early on isn't exactly uncommon. Sometimes I play Scizor aggressively early game to break a hole for Latios or Breloom, but I find Scizor ideal late game when he can pick most things off with Bullet Punch. Superpower is chosen over Brick Break since it hits Ferrothorn harder if you have no time to SD, and it can hit Magnezone and Heatran on the switch. It also hits Skarmory much harder. Bug Bite is basically your wallbreaking STAB for pokemon such as Hippowdon, Gastrodon, Bronzong, and Reuniclus. You can deal with every one of those pokemon, and oddball pokemon like Swampert and Metagross after a Swords Dance very well. Lum Berry looks terrible at a glance, It also allows Scizor to defeat Will-o-Wisp Rotom-W and take on other random status such as sleep. The EV's speed creep other Scizor and Tyranitar, maximize my bulk, while retaining my ability to hit hard. Sometimes I wish I had Bronzong when I play against a Garchomp, but Scizor makes a pretty good switch into it, and can take an Outrage if needed. It is also an important ice resist, for those annoying teams which run Mamoswine.
Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Focus Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Mach Punch
- Spore
I love Breloom and it has dropped in usage severely, which makes it even more effective as teams tend to be less ready to lose a Pokemon to the sleep buff this generation, along with substitute and Focus Punch almost certainly taking out another Pokemon later. It provides a rock resist, and other helpful resistances. While people may frown upon Breloom due to being Gliscor bait, it can't come into early game Breloom if it's Toxic Orb hasn't activated, also more often than not I've been able to take out the opposing Gliscor through bluffing correctly with Landorus. while SD Scizor is always capable of defeating a weakened Gliscor. I originally used Mach Punch to help with Excadril, but I think I like Sub better since it gives Focus Punch much more safety. Seed Bomb is good for Jellicant, Hippodown, fighting resists, and good for when it is too risky to Focus Punch. Another reason why I wanted to use Breloom is because I predicted a stall base metagame, and I knew Breloom was more than capable of destroying Ferrothorn / Jellicent cores. Breloom seems to be my primary Tyranitar switch in nowadays, and if they do not have Lum Berry they are pretty much out cold for the rest of the match. Toxic Orb allows me to absorb status, and helps make the sand damage a bit more tolerable.
Latios @ Wise Glasses
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power Fire
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Surf
A suspect, and it isn't hard to see why. Great STAB, speed, power, coverage, and resists. Most of the metagame wouldn't like to take hits from Latios. I tried Specs, Life Orb, but I often found my opponents switching in Ferrothorn and Scizor most of the time. So I decided to take advantage of such common plays by using Wise Glasses to bluff Specs, while giving me a bit of a power boost as well. I feel Latios lost a lot of its shine once people realized that SpD Jirachi is a hard counter, but with residual damage, and a possible hit here and there from Scizor, and Tyranitar, Latios could defeat it over time. Surf is very useful for Heatran, Tyranitar, Gliscor, and neutral coverage. Hidden Power Fire deals with Forretress, Skarmory, Scizor, and Ferrothorn. I used to run Psycho Shock on Latios, but without the power from a Life Orb or Specs it usually doesn't have the reliability against Blissey. I just chose Psychic for reliable late game sweeping, and to help against Conkeldurr. Often I do miss the sheer power of Choice Specs, and it does create a double-sword effect at times, as some moments I couldn't be more glad I had Wise Glasses, and times where if I just had the extra power I would have gotten a KO.
Conclusion
I've missed using this team now that the metagame has drastically altered, and its effectiveness and surprise factor has dwindled immensely over being used over the months. I did have two pretty big problems when using the team, and they came in the form of Blaziken and Volcarona. Blaziken could potentially sweep the team If it got a Swords Dance off, so I made sure to never let it set up without at least taking a good hit. This problem soon disappeared after Blaziken left though. Volcarona on the other hand will always be a problem for this team, but as I usually got Stealth Rock up right away if I seen it on my opponent's team, it was never worth altering my team's function to try and cope with it, and I didn't lose to it often enough for it to ever be too big of a problem, especially as if I rarely did misplay against it, surprisingly enough bluffing Scarf Landorus saved me occasionally as well.
What really made this team work so well honestly was that most of my Pokemon could capitalize on being able to deal significant damage or even OHKO their common counters. Such as Landorus being able to take out Gliscor, Deoxys taking down Tyranitar and Scizor, Latios and Tyranitar taking down Ferrothorn... I could go on for awhile.
This team has long since retired and I don't believe I'll ever use it again, but I thought it'd be nice to give it a lasting goodbye into the metagame long past, and I'm sure a number of you will have recognized this team when reading the above. Thank you!
Offensive Threats
Defensive Threats
