Hello Smogon! I'm Cease Tick. I may have just joined Smogon, but I've been playing competitive Pokemon for about three years now; ever since Latias was unbanned in D/P/Pt OU. I finally decided to join Smogon because I really wanted you guys to see this team! I've had this team for a while, and actually stopped using it for a bit to work on other teams, but recently I came back to it because it was so fun to use. If you guys want to know about rankings and stuff, then I don't have anything super special for you. Recently, in about two hours over two days I got from the mid 1100s to about 1330, but I'm sure that a better and more dedicated ladder user could get much higher with this team. So enough about me.
I began building this team after deciding to make a team around Suicune. I had used Suicune earlier in OU back before Garchomp was banned and it was very effective. On this team, I wanted to use Suicune to its maximum potential in the tier. So obviously, the goal of this team is to set up a Suicune sweep. The way it does this is by crippling Suicune's primary counters through poison (hence the team's name) while stalling out the rest of the opponent's team until the time is right for Suicune to take the stage. This team does have a few Pokemon that give it trouble, but it makes up for it by having really good matchups against a lot of other teams.
In this RMT, I for the most part will not go into details about specific movesets or EV spreads unless I had to chose between viable alternatives or if something isn't standard, because you guys should be able to figure out why Gliscor has Earthquake and why Suicune is running max defense. I'm sorry if I ramble on a bit in my descriptions; a lot of the time I end up describing what I might do in specific scenarios against specific Pokemon. I feel that this helps the reader get a better idea of how the team plays. Keep in mind that I've been using this team for a long time. This team was made a couple months before Excadrill and Tornadus were banned, so if you see any reference to them in the descriptions keep that in mind. Also sorry if the pictures are kind of big. Moves in red are changes that I have made.
Team at a glance:
Politoed (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Perish Song
Politoed doesn't come out much, but he does some important stuff for the team. Rain is pretty good for this team; everything benefits just a bit from a rain boost. Also, rain lets me get rid of other harmful weathers like hail or sun. Besides just setting up weather, Politoed makes a decent revenge killer. Timid lets me revenge kill stuff around the base 110 speed tier, like Terrakion, Infernape, Landorus, and Lati@s. Back before they were banned, Toed could also revenge kill both Thunderus and Excadrill pretty reliably. I'll also use Toed to kill unboosted dragons, because sometimes a surprise Outrage from Dragonite or whatever kills Gliscor and I can use Ice Beam to kill it. Psychic allows Politoed to kill Toxicroak, who can otherwise be a pretty big threat to my team.
As a side note, Perish Song is a great move on scarf Politoed. Perish Song lets me force out all sorts of dangerous shit if necessary, like Breloom, Jellicent, Gyarados, and Reuniclus. I don't need it often; but when I do, it's really a lifesaver.
I usually play Politoed pretty conservatively. This isn't an offensive team, and for most pokemon I generally have a safer and better switch-in available. Plus, if I keep him in reserve, then he should be in tip-top shape when I do need him to revenge kill something, change the weather, or force something out. However, if it will give me a significant advantage, then I won't think twice about sacrificing him.
Breloom (F) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 212 SDef / 60 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Bulk Up
- Seed Bomb
- Drain Punch
Breloom is a really dangerous pokemon. I decided to use subseed Breloom because its bulk allows it to set up on all sorts of things Breloom normally can't, like Scizor, Excadrill (in the past), and Dragonite. Breloom is also one of the best Ferrothorn switch-ins in the game. It doesn't give a shit about Thunder Wave, Leech Seed, or hazards, and can get a free sub whenever it switches in to Ferrothorn because Power Whip doesn't break its sub. Once Breloom gets a sub up, it can do all sorts of not-nice things to the opponent. Because of this, Breloom has great synergy with Suicune: against teams with Ferrothorn as their only answer to Suicune, I can bring in Suicune and start setting up until Ferrothorn is forced to switch in, then switch to Breloom and get a free sub. As long as I have Suicune waiting in the wings, my opponent will be forced to keep Ferrothorn alive to prevent a sweep, and I can repeat the process ad infinitum.
Usually when I switch Breloom in, I just rely on his natural bulk to get set up, instead of firing off spore right away. That way, I can save spore until it will do the most damage and keep my opponent on their toes. I will usually try to use spore against annoying Pokemon like Skarmory, Tentacruel, and Gyarados.
Anyway, I usually switch Breloom in on Ferrothorn, Forretress, Excadrill(in the past), Chansey/Blissey, and Rotom-W, among others.
Breloom benefits from rain because it cuts the power of fire attacks and gets rid of the residual damage from sandstorm and hail.
Honestly though, if there's anything on the team that could be replaced, it's probably Breloom. The only unique threat that Breloom handles much better than everything else on my team is Ferrothorn, and I feel like I could probably put something else in this slot that still beats the nettle while also handling some of the problem pokemon for this team, like Skarmory, Gyarados, Toxicroak, and Tentacruel. Spore is nice, but it conflicts with all the toxic here pretty badly, and is not nearly as useful as it would be on an offensive team. Besides, Breloom doesn't even beat Ferrothorn that run Gyro Ball. I think the problem with Breloom on this team is that while he can beat a lot of stuff, it's mostly the same stuff that is handled very well by the rest of my team, outside of Ferrothorn. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Breloom's set was changed to a Bulk Up set to beat Ferrothorn and some other Pokemon more effectively.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Surf
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Why doesn't anyone else use this thing? I know it needs a good deal of team support, but it's really a monster. The way I see it, Crocune is a lot like Reuniclus: a physically bulky calm minder, with recovery and a virtual immunity to status. However, they have almost entirely different sets of counters, with only Latios and Jellicent able to counter both. Reuniclus's other common counters, like Tyranitar, Scizor, Jirachi, Latias, and Gengar, all get crushed by Suicune. Anyway, I don't think that any of the moves on this set need explanation, except maybe that I chose Surf over Scald because Scald conflicted with all the poison I was spreading. A Suicune sweep is definitely this team's win condition. Reuniclus's counters are replaced by Celebi, Vaporeon, Jellicent, Virizion, Gastrodon, Ferrothorn, and Toxicroak. I use so much poison on this team because all of those Pokemon except Toxicroak and Ferrothorn. are totally crippled by poison. Actually, Suicune can begin setting up on the water types as long as I've poisoned them already. Suicune can set up on a TON of stuff, he has much more bulk than Reuniclus and significantly better typing. One other really important trait that Suicune has is Pressure. Suciune is the best PP staller in the game, period. He can beat every other calm minder in the game, except Virizion and Psychock Reuniclus. Latias may have tons of special bulk and a resistance to my STAB, but if it doesn't get a crit in its 8 uses of dragon pulse, it loses. I've done Suicune vs Latias many times with this team, and I've never lost that matchup. The odds of Latias with full PP of getting at least one crit in 8 attacks is just under 40%. Keep in mind that Suicune is only my secondary check to Latias.
Anyway, Suicune does a lot for this team. He obviously gives me a very threatening win condition that keeps opponents on their toes. Also, he gives me a bulky counter/check to many powerful physical attackers, like Landorus, Terrakion, and Lurcario. Suicune benefits from rain because it boosts his power a lot, so he needs much less setup to kill important threats like Scizor.
Suicune also beats Reuniclus, please stop posting saying I have a Reuniclus weakness, I really don't.
Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 88 Def / 176 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Protect
Gliscor is probably the biggest status-spreader on this team, and almost certainly its most annoying Pokemon. Sub+Protect means I can beat almost everything that's already poisoned by just sitting in front of it and not taking any damage. Toxic is very important on this set. Remember all those counters to Suicune I mentioned earlier? Well they all love to switch in to Gliscor as he sets up a sub. From there I'm almost guaranteed a toxic on them, which makes Suicune's life pretty easy. Gliscor is also an effective deterrent to VoltSwitch. I will usually switch him into Scizor's U-turn, and then Rotom will come in about 90% of the time. I always use protect to scout for Rotom's next move, and what I do next depends on their set. If it's scarfed, I'll either switch or set up a sub, depending on what move they use. If they're bulky, I'm usually faster and can just use Sub+Protect to stall out Hydro Pump's measly 8 PP. Most of the time however I will try to scout out Rotom's speed first by having it switch into a Gliscor with a sub already up. The EV spread gives me a toxic orb number so that I don't lose health while I'm stalling.
On this team, Gliscor counters the things it usually does, like Conkeldurr, Toxicroak (without ice punch), Landorus, and so on, and it gets a huge number of opportunities to switch in. I will mention that Gliscor is probably my main Dragonite counter. He can eat most of Dragonite's hits, and I just have to get status on him once, and from there I can just Sub+Protect to win. I can deal with Lum Berry, but Substitute Dragonite is a pretty big problem. And no, I am not considering switching Toxic to Ice Fang, it's just too useful. Anyway, Gliscor benefits from rain because it lets him switch in on fire attacks from the likes of Heatran and Darmanitan. Most water attacks would kill Gliscor anyway so increasing their power isn't a big deal for Gliscor. Substitue was recently replaced with Taunt to help beat Skarmory and Breloom, among other threats. Gliscor's speed was also increased to allow me to outspeed and kill adamant Toxicroak.
Ferrothorn (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
Forretress has been replaced with Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn can still set up spikes while threatening Dragonite and especially Gyarados more. It still checks Haxorus and stuff as well. EV spread lets me check those physical threats more reliably. For more info, go into my past members section, and read that but replace "Forretress" with "Ferrothorn" and omit the stuff about Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin.
Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
- Softboiled
- Stealth Rock
I hate to use a cliché like this, but Chansey is really the glue that holds this team together. Chansey beats almost every single special threat, with CM Reuniclus and Gengar handled by Suicune. Chansey really just does everything I need it to. It beats special threats, it gets rocks, and it spreads status. Chansey has more than just special bulk. Most people don't realize how much physical bulk Chansey has, because it's significantly more than Blissey. Here are some calcs of various attacks against Chansey:
Specs Latios Psyshock: 538 Atk vs 178 Def & 703 HP (80 Base Power): 261 - 307 (37.13% - 43.67%)
CB Scizor U-Turn: 591 Atk vs 178 Def & 703 HP (70 Base Power): 250 - 295 (35.56% - 41.96%)
Scarf Landorus Earthquake: 349 Atk vs 178 Def & 703 HP (100 Base Power): 211 - 249 (30.01% - 35.42%)
So anyway, Chansey takes a ton of pressure off of the rest of my team to handle special threats such as Rotom, Lati@s, Celebi, and more, and she can also take physical hits well enough to cripple the attacker with toxic. If I don't need Chansey for the rest of my opponent's team, I might sac her against something like Dragonite that's giving me trouble just to get poison on it. Chansey can survive hits as strong as +2 Outrage if necessary to status Dragonite in return. This doesn't happen most of the time, but it's always an option. Chansey is actually only marginally less bulky than Gliscor, although it is significantly less bulky than Suicune. Chansey benefits from rain because it takes away sand's residual damage, which is annoying without leftovers.
Past members:
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Rapid Spin
Forretress is a pretty useful Pokemon. I knew I needed a spinner because Suicune would proably be giving Ferrothorn free switch-ins. I was reluctant to use Forretress at first, because I had used him in the past and it didn't work well. On this team, however, he does a pretty decent job. His primary job is to set up a bunch of hazards so that the opponent can't just switch back and forth willy-nilly. Spikes are useful to punish switches this way, and Toxic Spikes are useful for some more specific threats. The number one threat that's beaten by Toxic Spikes is Celebi. Toxic Spikes let me keep Celebi poisoned through natural cure. Without Toxic Spikes, I can wall most Celebi with Chansey, but I can do anything to it to make sure that it dies so that Suicune can sweep. Toxic Spikes also helps against other Pokemon crippled by poison, but I don't need it for that purpose and I am often better off just setting up spikes and poisoning those Pokemon manually. Anyway, Rapid Spin is very useful for taking pressure off of my side of the field if necessary. I chose Gyro Ball over other options like Volt Switch because Forretress is also my primary check to very strong dragons like Haxorus. That is also why I'm using a physically defensive EV spread. Special defense Forretress is primarily useful for being able to set up on bulky waters and stuff but with rain up that wouldn't be too effective anyway. Rain does help Forretress survive fire moves like Fire Punch from Dragonite or HP Fire from Magnezone.
Threat list:
This isn't going to be a huge detailed list or anything but rather a short list of threats that this team has problems with that raters can quickly reference.
Gyarados can fuck me up really bad. Offensive versions can be worn down, statused, and eventually killed, so they aren't that bad. RestTalk is crushed by Breloom. The real problem here is fighting Taunt and Substitute variants. Both are immune to my primary modes of killing them, Toxic and Leech Seed. My best shot is to make sure rocks are up, force them out with Perish Song, and hopefully catch them on the switch with Toxic. This sometimes works, but it is not at all a reliable solution. Ferrothorn and Bulk Up Breloom help me a lot against Gyarados.
Toxicroak 6-0s me if it has Ice Punch, unless I can work some kind of miracle involving Spikes, Spore, Perish Song, Gyro Ball, or any combination of the above. Other Toxicroak are significantly less threatening, but still very annoying as a defensive threat. The only thing I have that can beat Toxicroak is Gliscor, and if they have something that can ignore Gliscor like Skarmory or their own Gliscor, then I'm in a very bad position because they can just switch back and forth between them. Gliscor's speed has been increased to help defeat Toxicroak. Politoed has also been given Psychic.
Skarmory really gets on my nerves. It switches in for free on Gliscor and then can really mess with my team. Spikes can be deadly if I can't get rid of them, and Whirlwind is super annoying. He beats Breloom easily, and can phaze out Suicune. My best answers to it are my water types, but between spikes and whirlwind he can often wear them down while keeping them from coming in. Even if he gets forced out, he can easily come right back in for free against a lot of my team. Gliscor now has Taunt to help shut down Skarmory, making it significantly less threatening.
Most Dragonite sets, while threatening, can be played around pretty well by my team. Band can be statused by Gliscor, walled by Forretress, and revenge killed by Politoed. DD is usually statused and walled by Gliscor. Parashuffle is beaten by Chansey and is generally nonthreatening. Special variants are also beaten by Chansey. The problem set here is SubDD. If I can't get it statused on the switch, then I will have to rely on a combination of Chansey, Politoed, and Forretress. Chansey fights it similarly to how it fights Latias; It breaks its subs with seismic toss and tries to predict when it will use a different move, then toxics it that turn. The difference is that Dragonite can kill Chansey far more easily if I mess up a single prediction. If it has roost also, then I'm almost totally relying on Chansey. Forretress is too weak to threaten Dragonite if it has recovery, and Politoed is probably getting outsped and KOd. Ferrothorn helps out some against Dragonite, but ones with Substitute are still a threat.
Without Toxic Spikes, certain Celebi variants can be quite a problem for this team.
Alright, nothing else really comes immediately to my mind. So that's it I guess. Thanks for reading and rating!
I began building this team after deciding to make a team around Suicune. I had used Suicune earlier in OU back before Garchomp was banned and it was very effective. On this team, I wanted to use Suicune to its maximum potential in the tier. So obviously, the goal of this team is to set up a Suicune sweep. The way it does this is by crippling Suicune's primary counters through poison (hence the team's name) while stalling out the rest of the opponent's team until the time is right for Suicune to take the stage. This team does have a few Pokemon that give it trouble, but it makes up for it by having really good matchups against a lot of other teams.
In this RMT, I for the most part will not go into details about specific movesets or EV spreads unless I had to chose between viable alternatives or if something isn't standard, because you guys should be able to figure out why Gliscor has Earthquake and why Suicune is running max defense. I'm sorry if I ramble on a bit in my descriptions; a lot of the time I end up describing what I might do in specific scenarios against specific Pokemon. I feel that this helps the reader get a better idea of how the team plays. Keep in mind that I've been using this team for a long time. This team was made a couple months before Excadrill and Tornadus were banned, so if you see any reference to them in the descriptions keep that in mind. Also sorry if the pictures are kind of big. Moves in red are changes that I have made.
Team at a glance:
Politoed (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Perish Song
Politoed doesn't come out much, but he does some important stuff for the team. Rain is pretty good for this team; everything benefits just a bit from a rain boost. Also, rain lets me get rid of other harmful weathers like hail or sun. Besides just setting up weather, Politoed makes a decent revenge killer. Timid lets me revenge kill stuff around the base 110 speed tier, like Terrakion, Infernape, Landorus, and Lati@s. Back before they were banned, Toed could also revenge kill both Thunderus and Excadrill pretty reliably. I'll also use Toed to kill unboosted dragons, because sometimes a surprise Outrage from Dragonite or whatever kills Gliscor and I can use Ice Beam to kill it. Psychic allows Politoed to kill Toxicroak, who can otherwise be a pretty big threat to my team.
As a side note, Perish Song is a great move on scarf Politoed. Perish Song lets me force out all sorts of dangerous shit if necessary, like Breloom, Jellicent, Gyarados, and Reuniclus. I don't need it often; but when I do, it's really a lifesaver.
I usually play Politoed pretty conservatively. This isn't an offensive team, and for most pokemon I generally have a safer and better switch-in available. Plus, if I keep him in reserve, then he should be in tip-top shape when I do need him to revenge kill something, change the weather, or force something out. However, if it will give me a significant advantage, then I won't think twice about sacrificing him.
Breloom (F) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 212 SDef / 60 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Bulk Up
- Seed Bomb
- Drain Punch
Breloom is a really dangerous pokemon. I decided to use subseed Breloom because its bulk allows it to set up on all sorts of things Breloom normally can't, like Scizor, Excadrill (in the past), and Dragonite. Breloom is also one of the best Ferrothorn switch-ins in the game. It doesn't give a shit about Thunder Wave, Leech Seed, or hazards, and can get a free sub whenever it switches in to Ferrothorn because Power Whip doesn't break its sub. Once Breloom gets a sub up, it can do all sorts of not-nice things to the opponent. Because of this, Breloom has great synergy with Suicune: against teams with Ferrothorn as their only answer to Suicune, I can bring in Suicune and start setting up until Ferrothorn is forced to switch in, then switch to Breloom and get a free sub. As long as I have Suicune waiting in the wings, my opponent will be forced to keep Ferrothorn alive to prevent a sweep, and I can repeat the process ad infinitum.
Usually when I switch Breloom in, I just rely on his natural bulk to get set up, instead of firing off spore right away. That way, I can save spore until it will do the most damage and keep my opponent on their toes. I will usually try to use spore against annoying Pokemon like Skarmory, Tentacruel, and Gyarados.
Anyway, I usually switch Breloom in on Ferrothorn, Forretress, Excadrill(in the past), Chansey/Blissey, and Rotom-W, among others.
Breloom benefits from rain because it cuts the power of fire attacks and gets rid of the residual damage from sandstorm and hail.
Honestly though, if there's anything on the team that could be replaced, it's probably Breloom. The only unique threat that Breloom handles much better than everything else on my team is Ferrothorn, and I feel like I could probably put something else in this slot that still beats the nettle while also handling some of the problem pokemon for this team, like Skarmory, Gyarados, Toxicroak, and Tentacruel. Spore is nice, but it conflicts with all the toxic here pretty badly, and is not nearly as useful as it would be on an offensive team. Besides, Breloom doesn't even beat Ferrothorn that run Gyro Ball. I think the problem with Breloom on this team is that while he can beat a lot of stuff, it's mostly the same stuff that is handled very well by the rest of my team, outside of Ferrothorn. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Breloom's set was changed to a Bulk Up set to beat Ferrothorn and some other Pokemon more effectively.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Surf
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Why doesn't anyone else use this thing? I know it needs a good deal of team support, but it's really a monster. The way I see it, Crocune is a lot like Reuniclus: a physically bulky calm minder, with recovery and a virtual immunity to status. However, they have almost entirely different sets of counters, with only Latios and Jellicent able to counter both. Reuniclus's other common counters, like Tyranitar, Scizor, Jirachi, Latias, and Gengar, all get crushed by Suicune. Anyway, I don't think that any of the moves on this set need explanation, except maybe that I chose Surf over Scald because Scald conflicted with all the poison I was spreading. A Suicune sweep is definitely this team's win condition. Reuniclus's counters are replaced by Celebi, Vaporeon, Jellicent, Virizion, Gastrodon, Ferrothorn, and Toxicroak. I use so much poison on this team because all of those Pokemon except Toxicroak and Ferrothorn. are totally crippled by poison. Actually, Suicune can begin setting up on the water types as long as I've poisoned them already. Suicune can set up on a TON of stuff, he has much more bulk than Reuniclus and significantly better typing. One other really important trait that Suicune has is Pressure. Suciune is the best PP staller in the game, period. He can beat every other calm minder in the game, except Virizion and Psychock Reuniclus. Latias may have tons of special bulk and a resistance to my STAB, but if it doesn't get a crit in its 8 uses of dragon pulse, it loses. I've done Suicune vs Latias many times with this team, and I've never lost that matchup. The odds of Latias with full PP of getting at least one crit in 8 attacks is just under 40%. Keep in mind that Suicune is only my secondary check to Latias.
Anyway, Suicune does a lot for this team. He obviously gives me a very threatening win condition that keeps opponents on their toes. Also, he gives me a bulky counter/check to many powerful physical attackers, like Landorus, Terrakion, and Lurcario. Suicune benefits from rain because it boosts his power a lot, so he needs much less setup to kill important threats like Scizor.
Suicune also beats Reuniclus, please stop posting saying I have a Reuniclus weakness, I really don't.
Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 88 Def / 176 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Protect
Gliscor is probably the biggest status-spreader on this team, and almost certainly its most annoying Pokemon. Sub+Protect means I can beat almost everything that's already poisoned by just sitting in front of it and not taking any damage. Toxic is very important on this set. Remember all those counters to Suicune I mentioned earlier? Well they all love to switch in to Gliscor as he sets up a sub. From there I'm almost guaranteed a toxic on them, which makes Suicune's life pretty easy. Gliscor is also an effective deterrent to VoltSwitch. I will usually switch him into Scizor's U-turn, and then Rotom will come in about 90% of the time. I always use protect to scout for Rotom's next move, and what I do next depends on their set. If it's scarfed, I'll either switch or set up a sub, depending on what move they use. If they're bulky, I'm usually faster and can just use Sub+Protect to stall out Hydro Pump's measly 8 PP. Most of the time however I will try to scout out Rotom's speed first by having it switch into a Gliscor with a sub already up. The EV spread gives me a toxic orb number so that I don't lose health while I'm stalling.
On this team, Gliscor counters the things it usually does, like Conkeldurr, Toxicroak (without ice punch), Landorus, and so on, and it gets a huge number of opportunities to switch in. I will mention that Gliscor is probably my main Dragonite counter. He can eat most of Dragonite's hits, and I just have to get status on him once, and from there I can just Sub+Protect to win. I can deal with Lum Berry, but Substitute Dragonite is a pretty big problem. And no, I am not considering switching Toxic to Ice Fang, it's just too useful. Anyway, Gliscor benefits from rain because it lets him switch in on fire attacks from the likes of Heatran and Darmanitan. Most water attacks would kill Gliscor anyway so increasing their power isn't a big deal for Gliscor. Substitue was recently replaced with Taunt to help beat Skarmory and Breloom, among other threats. Gliscor's speed was also increased to allow me to outspeed and kill adamant Toxicroak.
Ferrothorn (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
Forretress has been replaced with Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn can still set up spikes while threatening Dragonite and especially Gyarados more. It still checks Haxorus and stuff as well. EV spread lets me check those physical threats more reliably. For more info, go into my past members section, and read that but replace "Forretress" with "Ferrothorn" and omit the stuff about Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin.
Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
- Softboiled
- Stealth Rock
I hate to use a cliché like this, but Chansey is really the glue that holds this team together. Chansey beats almost every single special threat, with CM Reuniclus and Gengar handled by Suicune. Chansey really just does everything I need it to. It beats special threats, it gets rocks, and it spreads status. Chansey has more than just special bulk. Most people don't realize how much physical bulk Chansey has, because it's significantly more than Blissey. Here are some calcs of various attacks against Chansey:
Specs Latios Psyshock: 538 Atk vs 178 Def & 703 HP (80 Base Power): 261 - 307 (37.13% - 43.67%)
CB Scizor U-Turn: 591 Atk vs 178 Def & 703 HP (70 Base Power): 250 - 295 (35.56% - 41.96%)
Scarf Landorus Earthquake: 349 Atk vs 178 Def & 703 HP (100 Base Power): 211 - 249 (30.01% - 35.42%)
So anyway, Chansey takes a ton of pressure off of the rest of my team to handle special threats such as Rotom, Lati@s, Celebi, and more, and she can also take physical hits well enough to cripple the attacker with toxic. If I don't need Chansey for the rest of my opponent's team, I might sac her against something like Dragonite that's giving me trouble just to get poison on it. Chansey can survive hits as strong as +2 Outrage if necessary to status Dragonite in return. This doesn't happen most of the time, but it's always an option. Chansey is actually only marginally less bulky than Gliscor, although it is significantly less bulky than Suicune. Chansey benefits from rain because it takes away sand's residual damage, which is annoying without leftovers.
Past members:
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Rapid Spin
Forretress is a pretty useful Pokemon. I knew I needed a spinner because Suicune would proably be giving Ferrothorn free switch-ins. I was reluctant to use Forretress at first, because I had used him in the past and it didn't work well. On this team, however, he does a pretty decent job. His primary job is to set up a bunch of hazards so that the opponent can't just switch back and forth willy-nilly. Spikes are useful to punish switches this way, and Toxic Spikes are useful for some more specific threats. The number one threat that's beaten by Toxic Spikes is Celebi. Toxic Spikes let me keep Celebi poisoned through natural cure. Without Toxic Spikes, I can wall most Celebi with Chansey, but I can do anything to it to make sure that it dies so that Suicune can sweep. Toxic Spikes also helps against other Pokemon crippled by poison, but I don't need it for that purpose and I am often better off just setting up spikes and poisoning those Pokemon manually. Anyway, Rapid Spin is very useful for taking pressure off of my side of the field if necessary. I chose Gyro Ball over other options like Volt Switch because Forretress is also my primary check to very strong dragons like Haxorus. That is also why I'm using a physically defensive EV spread. Special defense Forretress is primarily useful for being able to set up on bulky waters and stuff but with rain up that wouldn't be too effective anyway. Rain does help Forretress survive fire moves like Fire Punch from Dragonite or HP Fire from Magnezone.
Threat list:
This isn't going to be a huge detailed list or anything but rather a short list of threats that this team has problems with that raters can quickly reference.
Gyarados can fuck me up really bad. Offensive versions can be worn down, statused, and eventually killed, so they aren't that bad. RestTalk is crushed by Breloom. The real problem here is fighting Taunt and Substitute variants. Both are immune to my primary modes of killing them, Toxic and Leech Seed. My best shot is to make sure rocks are up, force them out with Perish Song, and hopefully catch them on the switch with Toxic. This sometimes works, but it is not at all a reliable solution. Ferrothorn and Bulk Up Breloom help me a lot against Gyarados.
Toxicroak 6-0s me if it has Ice Punch, unless I can work some kind of miracle involving Spikes, Spore, Perish Song, Gyro Ball, or any combination of the above. Other Toxicroak are significantly less threatening, but still very annoying as a defensive threat. The only thing I have that can beat Toxicroak is Gliscor, and if they have something that can ignore Gliscor like Skarmory or their own Gliscor, then I'm in a very bad position because they can just switch back and forth between them. Gliscor's speed has been increased to help defeat Toxicroak. Politoed has also been given Psychic.
Skarmory really gets on my nerves. It switches in for free on Gliscor and then can really mess with my team. Spikes can be deadly if I can't get rid of them, and Whirlwind is super annoying. He beats Breloom easily, and can phaze out Suicune. My best answers to it are my water types, but between spikes and whirlwind he can often wear them down while keeping them from coming in. Even if he gets forced out, he can easily come right back in for free against a lot of my team. Gliscor now has Taunt to help shut down Skarmory, making it significantly less threatening.
Most Dragonite sets, while threatening, can be played around pretty well by my team. Band can be statused by Gliscor, walled by Forretress, and revenge killed by Politoed. DD is usually statused and walled by Gliscor. Parashuffle is beaten by Chansey and is generally nonthreatening. Special variants are also beaten by Chansey. The problem set here is SubDD. If I can't get it statused on the switch, then I will have to rely on a combination of Chansey, Politoed, and Forretress. Chansey fights it similarly to how it fights Latias; It breaks its subs with seismic toss and tries to predict when it will use a different move, then toxics it that turn. The difference is that Dragonite can kill Chansey far more easily if I mess up a single prediction. If it has roost also, then I'm almost totally relying on Chansey. Forretress is too weak to threaten Dragonite if it has recovery, and Politoed is probably getting outsped and KOd. Ferrothorn helps out some against Dragonite, but ones with Substitute are still a threat.
Without Toxic Spikes, certain Celebi variants can be quite a problem for this team.
Alright, nothing else really comes immediately to my mind. So that's it I guess. Thanks for reading and rating!