Hey Smogon, some of you may know me as one of the few remaining Pokemon Lab regulars, while most of you probably don't know me at all. This is my first gen V rmt, and my second rmt overall, so I guess this means I'm finally looking to completely get into the gen V metagame.
After messing around with a couple of different teams and just learning what was popular and what was not, I sat down and decided to make this as a starting point.
While using it, I realized that I was using the volt switch and U-Turn synergy to generate a lot of my offensive momentum, so I thought to myself, why not make a team using that? and after tweaks, tests, and advice from a handful of friends, I came up with the following:
Jolteon @ Expert Belt
Volt Absorb
252SpAtk 252Speed 4Def
Timid (+Speed -Atk)
-Volt Switch
-Thunderbolt
-Shadow Ball
-HP Ice
Jolteon has been my favorite lead throughout my entire time playing this generation, and although he no longer has to lead just because he's in slot 1, I still find myself leading with him more often than not. Jolteon can be very rewarding bluffing the choice. Volt switch gets negated by a ground type turn 1, switch out, and then later, hit a dragon or ground with a devastating hp ice when they think you're choiced. I did try hp grass over hp ice, but found that vs gastrodon/swampert, I'd rather just switch out to something that I know gives me an advantage than risk a spdef variant that survives and ohko's me. Most times, Jolt will simply see what my opponent will lead with, and turn out to something that can scare it away or cripple it, then come in and threaten anything frail with it's speed on volt/turns later in the game. He's also perfect for those pesky T-Waves.
Scizor @ Choice Band
Technician
248HP, 252Atk, 8Speed
Adamant (+Atk -SpAtk)
-Bullet Punch
-Superpower
-Pursuit
-U-Turn
So I guess good old Scizor hasn't lost any of its charm between gens. Scizor has just proven to be really effective to bring in against anything at low HP, or frail, or weak to bug, or... yeah, he comes in on a lot of things. You might be thinking "why pursuit? if you're predicting a switch, wouldn't you just turn out to scout and bring in a suitable counter?" Yes, valid point, but sometimes, when you think something is switching out, you just want it dead. Still, I won't deny that I do have thoughts of switching pursuit off for aerial ace. When I need to force some damage through, or see an opposing reuniclus (something this team does have a bit of trouble with otherwise) scizor is coming in to turn or bullet punch it to death.
Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Levitate
252SpAtk 112HP 144Speed
Modest (+SpAtk -Atk)
-Volt Switch
-Hydro Pump
-Pain Split
-Toxic
Something I saw while playing online was that Rotom-W and Scizor work very well together, something that I decided to exploit. Rotom has natural bulk and levitate, very useful when I need to turn in something to take a hit and not mind too much, if at all. Down to low hp? No problem, pain split it off. Getting stalled by something and don't have time to force it out? Toxic and get as many turns out of pain split as you can. Rotom here is primarily a wallbreaker, though ferro gives him quite a bit of trouble. I've considered hp fire, but most of my ferro problems are in the rain, and I feel like there's a better way that I haven't come up with yet than using a 70 power nonstab halved move just for one poke.
Forretress @ Leftovers
Sturdy
252HP 252Def 4SpDef
Relaxed (+Def -Speed)
-Stealth Rock
-Spikes
-Rapid Spin
-Volt Switch
With all this in and out, not having a spinner would be suicide. At the same time, not taking advantage of the number of switches forced by volt-turning is equally insane. Forry does both, AND can use volt switch. In addition, he's got quite the physical defense to force switches himself, or make the opponent let him set up even more hazards or spin away any that might have accumulated. Most people with something that can set up are lured into a false sense of security by forry being out, and try to bring in something that can set up on him, in which case he can switch out to my own counter.
Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Sheer Force
252Atk 252Speed 4HP
Jolly (+Speed -Atk)
-Flare Blitz
-Superpower
-Rock Slide
-U-Turn
As soon as I started using Darmanitan, I fell in love with it. Its just so damn powerful. Once my opponent knows he's scarfed, he can start forcing more switches than before, giving more opportunities to U-Turn. Superpower is there for Ttar and in my experience, Scrafty, as a DD scrafty can give this team a roughing up otherwise. While due to it's abysmal defenses, it can't really come in on even something it resists, the sheer power and cleanup it provides make it well worth it's slot on the team. Many games have ended by me bringing in darmanitan after a series of predict wars and trading hazards and revenge kills, and just flare blitzed everything to death. Bulky waters aren't as much of an issue as they would normally be for him due to the abundance of electricity here.
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Cursed Body
252HP, 252SpDef, 4Def
Calm (+SpDef -Atk)
-Taunt
-Recover
-Surf
-Will O Wisp
Jellybro is here to take all those special attacks that I don't wanna deal with. He is the only member of the team without volt/turn, but I changed this slot so many times due to different needs that I ended up not making that a necessity just for the sake of finding something that did what I needed it to do. WoW takes care of physical attackers that can threaten him or the rest of my team. Jellicent is really solely here in order to cover for the weaknesses of the rest of the team defensively. This slot of the team has been changed easily 5 or 6 times, and Jellicent is the member I'm most comfortable with. However, that being said, if there was any member of the team I had the least confidence in, it would be him.
Threats:
Bulk Up Scrafty- I am always underestimating Scrafty's bulk, and sometimes, when I'm predicting a DD, I see a bulk up instead. Darmanitan's Superpower can no longer KO, and drain punch/crunch starts coming everywhere. I manage to get a status on it: boom, lum berry. Not a good situation.
Calm Mind Reuniclus- 3 attacks variants are fine, but the ones with recover are tricky. With scizor still around, it's fine. If he's gone... then I have to hope i can flare blitz through some damage or pretend I have something that can KO and trick my opponent into switching out.
(There are undoubtedly more things that threaten my team than this, however these are what I have encountered thus far and have consistently given me trouble)
EDIT: Forretress being gone and hazards getting stacked up. This has been getting into my head lately, too, and I'm not really sure what to do about it. Forretress can't really do anything to escape hp fire zone (apart from using shed shell, meh) and once I can't spin, I lose the ability to volt/turn uninhibited. A good friend of mine pointed out that one way to solve this would be by getting a magic bounce user somewhere in here, but I just really won't be able to tell without testing more. Theory: perhaps Espeon could fit in somewhere(and by fit in somewhere i mean replace jellicent) and use baton pass as a non-damaging volt turn, and be there to magic bounce back hazards. Could also give forry room for gyro ball so as to not have to run both spikes and SR.
Well, there it is, thanks for reading =) comments and criticism and the like are greatly appreciated.
After messing around with a couple of different teams and just learning what was popular and what was not, I sat down and decided to make this as a starting point.
While using it, I realized that I was using the volt switch and U-Turn synergy to generate a lot of my offensive momentum, so I thought to myself, why not make a team using that? and after tweaks, tests, and advice from a handful of friends, I came up with the following:
Jolteon @ Expert Belt
Volt Absorb
252SpAtk 252Speed 4Def
Timid (+Speed -Atk)
-Volt Switch
-Thunderbolt
-Shadow Ball
-HP Ice
Jolteon has been my favorite lead throughout my entire time playing this generation, and although he no longer has to lead just because he's in slot 1, I still find myself leading with him more often than not. Jolteon can be very rewarding bluffing the choice. Volt switch gets negated by a ground type turn 1, switch out, and then later, hit a dragon or ground with a devastating hp ice when they think you're choiced. I did try hp grass over hp ice, but found that vs gastrodon/swampert, I'd rather just switch out to something that I know gives me an advantage than risk a spdef variant that survives and ohko's me. Most times, Jolt will simply see what my opponent will lead with, and turn out to something that can scare it away or cripple it, then come in and threaten anything frail with it's speed on volt/turns later in the game. He's also perfect for those pesky T-Waves.
Scizor @ Choice Band
Technician
248HP, 252Atk, 8Speed
Adamant (+Atk -SpAtk)
-Bullet Punch
-Superpower
-Pursuit
-U-Turn
So I guess good old Scizor hasn't lost any of its charm between gens. Scizor has just proven to be really effective to bring in against anything at low HP, or frail, or weak to bug, or... yeah, he comes in on a lot of things. You might be thinking "why pursuit? if you're predicting a switch, wouldn't you just turn out to scout and bring in a suitable counter?" Yes, valid point, but sometimes, when you think something is switching out, you just want it dead. Still, I won't deny that I do have thoughts of switching pursuit off for aerial ace. When I need to force some damage through, or see an opposing reuniclus (something this team does have a bit of trouble with otherwise) scizor is coming in to turn or bullet punch it to death.
Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Levitate
252SpAtk 112HP 144Speed
Modest (+SpAtk -Atk)
-Volt Switch
-Hydro Pump
-Pain Split
-Toxic
Something I saw while playing online was that Rotom-W and Scizor work very well together, something that I decided to exploit. Rotom has natural bulk and levitate, very useful when I need to turn in something to take a hit and not mind too much, if at all. Down to low hp? No problem, pain split it off. Getting stalled by something and don't have time to force it out? Toxic and get as many turns out of pain split as you can. Rotom here is primarily a wallbreaker, though ferro gives him quite a bit of trouble. I've considered hp fire, but most of my ferro problems are in the rain, and I feel like there's a better way that I haven't come up with yet than using a 70 power nonstab halved move just for one poke.
Forretress @ Leftovers
Sturdy
252HP 252Def 4SpDef
Relaxed (+Def -Speed)
-Stealth Rock
-Spikes
-Rapid Spin
-Volt Switch
With all this in and out, not having a spinner would be suicide. At the same time, not taking advantage of the number of switches forced by volt-turning is equally insane. Forry does both, AND can use volt switch. In addition, he's got quite the physical defense to force switches himself, or make the opponent let him set up even more hazards or spin away any that might have accumulated. Most people with something that can set up are lured into a false sense of security by forry being out, and try to bring in something that can set up on him, in which case he can switch out to my own counter.
Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Sheer Force
252Atk 252Speed 4HP
Jolly (+Speed -Atk)
-Flare Blitz
-Superpower
-Rock Slide
-U-Turn
As soon as I started using Darmanitan, I fell in love with it. Its just so damn powerful. Once my opponent knows he's scarfed, he can start forcing more switches than before, giving more opportunities to U-Turn. Superpower is there for Ttar and in my experience, Scrafty, as a DD scrafty can give this team a roughing up otherwise. While due to it's abysmal defenses, it can't really come in on even something it resists, the sheer power and cleanup it provides make it well worth it's slot on the team. Many games have ended by me bringing in darmanitan after a series of predict wars and trading hazards and revenge kills, and just flare blitzed everything to death. Bulky waters aren't as much of an issue as they would normally be for him due to the abundance of electricity here.
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Cursed Body
252HP, 252SpDef, 4Def
Calm (+SpDef -Atk)
-Taunt
-Recover
-Surf
-Will O Wisp
Jellybro is here to take all those special attacks that I don't wanna deal with. He is the only member of the team without volt/turn, but I changed this slot so many times due to different needs that I ended up not making that a necessity just for the sake of finding something that did what I needed it to do. WoW takes care of physical attackers that can threaten him or the rest of my team. Jellicent is really solely here in order to cover for the weaknesses of the rest of the team defensively. This slot of the team has been changed easily 5 or 6 times, and Jellicent is the member I'm most comfortable with. However, that being said, if there was any member of the team I had the least confidence in, it would be him.
Threats:
Bulk Up Scrafty- I am always underestimating Scrafty's bulk, and sometimes, when I'm predicting a DD, I see a bulk up instead. Darmanitan's Superpower can no longer KO, and drain punch/crunch starts coming everywhere. I manage to get a status on it: boom, lum berry. Not a good situation.
Calm Mind Reuniclus- 3 attacks variants are fine, but the ones with recover are tricky. With scizor still around, it's fine. If he's gone... then I have to hope i can flare blitz through some damage or pretend I have something that can KO and trick my opponent into switching out.
(There are undoubtedly more things that threaten my team than this, however these are what I have encountered thus far and have consistently given me trouble)
EDIT: Forretress being gone and hazards getting stacked up. This has been getting into my head lately, too, and I'm not really sure what to do about it. Forretress can't really do anything to escape hp fire zone (apart from using shed shell, meh) and once I can't spin, I lose the ability to volt/turn uninhibited. A good friend of mine pointed out that one way to solve this would be by getting a magic bounce user somewhere in here, but I just really won't be able to tell without testing more. Theory: perhaps Espeon could fit in somewhere(and by fit in somewhere i mean replace jellicent) and use baton pass as a non-damaging volt turn, and be there to magic bounce back hazards. Could also give forry room for gyro ball so as to not have to run both spikes and SR.
Well, there it is, thanks for reading =) comments and criticism and the like are greatly appreciated.
