Anti-Lead Discussion: Viable or Unreliable?

In closing: Anti-leads are only reccomended if you're running a hyper-offensive team
Not true, I ran successful stall teams and other types of offense teams in OU with anti-leads.

I am an extreme lover of Anti-Leads. I use anti-leads in many of my teams and the teams has proven to work efficient.. Also.. I am surprised no one mentioned Smeargle. It works very similar to Roserade in that it dies to Taunt/Fake Out leads faster than it. With 100% Sleep Move to screw up anything slower and the ability to set up any hazards(notably Stealth Rock and Spikes,) it is worth noting as a good anti-lead, hazard lead, or suicide lead. Although I believe reliable leads such as Metagross should be used because anti-leads are designed to beat those after all. Anti-Leads should be used if it fits well in your team or if the anti-lead has a specific strategy to help your team, such as Roserade, Smeargle, Aerodactyl, Azelf

edit: Although this may not have much relevance to the current discussion. viability and reliability depends on how the metagame is. Lum Berry T-Tar was a really good anti-lead late D/P to stop suicide leads/gengar from running rampant. But the rise of bulky leads in DPPt changed many things.
 
My favorite anti-lead isn't anything fancy, just a simple specstran. I used it on one of my hyper offensive teams with great success.


Heatran@Choice Specs
Modest
Flash Fire
252 SpA/252 Spe/6 HP
-Overheat
-Earth Power
-HP Grass
-Flamethrower

Overheat: OHKO Occa Berry Metagross, Jirachi, and Hippowdon? yes please. any other lead that doesn't resist won't stand a fucking chance.

Earth Power: An obvious choice on any heatran set. With choice specs equipped it can 2HKO max HP tyranitar, though staying in isn't worth it due to the risk of getting hit with EQ.

HP Grass: Easy kill on swampert because they never switch out expecting this.

Flamethrower: This is good for 2HKOing Azelf when you don't want to miss with overheat or lower your sp atk. Great move for cleaning up slower teams.

Specs Overheat is possibly the most ridiculous move I ever used. It does up to 59% to swampert and always OHKOs naive salamence after stealth rock. Offensive teams that rely on stuff like gyarados, flygon, and the aformentioned salamence as their fire resist will usually find themselves losing a pokemon everytime they make a switch into this. The best thing about this lead is that it quickly disposes of virtually every lead slower than it, preventing from ever getting stealth rock up or being a nuisance later. It doesn't mind being tricked a scarf either.

endeavor leads can give it issues but they aren't nearly as popular as the leads it can handle.
 


Empoleon @Leftovers
Torrent
Rash
172 HP/ 90 Speed/ 248 Special Attack
-Aqua Jet
-Surf
-Stealth Rock
-Grass Knot/HP Electric

Surf is your main damaging move for Azelf, Metagross,Heatran and Aero. SR is a no brainer. Aqua Jet is for after you break Aero and Azelfs sashes. Grass Knot is for Swampert and other waters in the later game. HP electric is there for Gyarados if you choose so. However if HP Electric is chosen the spread must be 172 HP/ 252 Special Attack/ 86 Speed.

Rash nature is over modest because you need the extra attack to make sure that Aqua Jet finishes Azelf off. 90 speed outruns 4 speed Metagross and ties 8 speed ones. The special attack is for an almost guaranteed 2HKO on metagross. 172 HP is a leftovers number and puts you in Torrent range from Metagross' EQ.


Calcs:
MIN AVG MAX
352 Surf vs. 292/158 Azelf = 78.08% 84.25% 91.78%
208 Aqua Jet vs. 292/176 Azelf= 17.47% 18.84% 20.89%

You have a very reasonable chance of killing Azelf with surf/aqua jet combo before they get anything but SR up.

352 Surf vs. 364/216 Metagross= 46.15% 49.73% 54.40%
47.73% of a 2HKO which isn't too bad.

Metagross 405 EQ vs. 352/212= 77.84% 84.66% 92.05%

Never a OHKO and puts you in Torrent range making your surf a guaranteed 2HKO.

Not perfect but whatever.
 

Deck Knight

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I prefer this anti-lead Machamp:


Machamp @ Focus Sash
Ability: No Guard
Adamant Nature
252 Atk/252 Spe/ 4 Def
~ DynamicPunch
~ Encore
~ Payback
~ Vacuum Wave

The reason I like this better than the listed "Anti-lead" set is that it can actually stop slower rockers from setting up 50% of the time. Who cares about Bronzong Gyro Ball? If you confuse it and pummel it with Dynamicpunches such that it doesn't set up rocks, who cares. Bronzong setting up rocks is infinitely more important than dealing non-2HKO potential damage to Machamp. I'd much rather confuse a slower Metagross or Swampert and rend them potentially inoperable later in battle then have Subs that survive Gyro Ball Bronzong.

Payback is my preferred operative move because of Azelf's popularity. It also deals great damage to incoming Ghosts predicting a Dpunch. If a confused foe still sets up rocks, you can then Encore them and they'll risk hitting themselves again. Either way if you keep full HP, Machamp can come back and terrorize later.

Vacuum Wave is used because Bullet Punch and Encore are incompatible breed moves. Essentially if you activate a faster rocker's Sash, you can finish them with Vacuum Wave before they can get a damaging attack off, allowing Machamp to come back in near full health (or at full health with a Sash if you can successfully spin or Wish-pass.)
 
My favorite anti-lead isn't anything fancy, just a simple specstran. I used it on one of my hyper offensive teams with great success.


Heatran@Choice Specs
Modest
Flash Fire
252 SpA/252 Spe/6 HP
-Overheat
-Earth Power
-HP Grass
-Flamethrower

Overheat: OHKO Occa Berry Metagross, Jirachi, and Hippowdon? yes please. any other lead that doesn't resist won't stand a fucking chance.

Earth Power: An obvious choice on any heatran set. With choice specs equipped it can 2HKO max HP tyranitar, though staying in isn't worth it due to the risk of getting hit with EQ.

HP Grass: Easy kill on swampert because they never switch out expecting this.

Flamethrower: This is good for 2HKOing Azelf when you don't want to miss with overheat or lower your sp atk. Great move for cleaning up slower teams.

Specs Overheat is possibly the most ridiculous move I ever used. It does up to 59% to swampert and always OHKOs naive salamence after stealth rock. Offensive teams that rely on stuff like gyarados, flygon, and the aformentioned salamence as their fire resist will usually find themselves losing a pokemon everytime they make a switch into this. The best thing about this lead is that it quickly disposes of virtually every lead slower than it, preventing from ever getting stealth rock up or being a nuisance later. It doesn't mind being tricked a scarf either.

endeavor leads can give it issues but they aren't nearly as popular as the leads it can handle.
Copycat ;)
I've been using Dragon Pulse/Explosion > Flamethrower on my SpecsTran lead, as it has better used that Flamethrower.
You forgot to mention how Overheat OHKO's OccaGross and Standard Hippowdon too.

@Edit: Oops, never mind, you did. Sorry. You're still a copycat though. I've been using this for the past month. ;)
 
As far as the definition goes, isnt Anti-Lead just a fancy name for a counter? Hitmonlee is a great Anti-Lead to Kangaskhan, but since neither is led very often neither of thought of this way. If everyone thought Stealth Rock was crap and started leading only dragons, the new Anti-Lead would be things with Ice Shard. The distinguishing feature of the Anti-Lead is that there is no constant trait to counter, its just based on trends. You can generally count on a physical sweeper to have high attack and speed and thusly plan to counter those stats, but since leads can be literally anything there's no such basis for planning.

That being said, I think the concept of an Anti-Lead is sensible (albeit hard to execute); why not try to counter what you think your opponent is plotting? In the current metagame your opponent is most commonly going to use some supportive or disruptive move like Light Screen or Sleep Powder. It makes sense that these are chosen for lead moves as they arent reliant upon getting a good matchup against your opponent. Throwing a strong attacker in as a lead is quite simply a gamble, as your Scizor could enjoy a matchup against Aero just as easily as it could be forced out by a Heatran. When you've only got six pokes, rolling the dice is not the way most players prefer to start out. This is why I think Taunt is the single best move on lead. It gives you blanket coverage over every poke not planning on attacking, which is more than any set of attacks of your own can give you. Next comes the chance that your opponent did roll the dice and plans to attack your Taunter. Instead of relying on having the right attack to take on this random lead, having a supportive or disruptive move of your own is like having perfect coverage. You accomplish your goal of setting up rocks, a screen, tricking, or statusing the opponent (depending on accuracy) often regardless of what your opponents lead is. There will always be surprises, and of course speed comes into play, but each slower Taunter has something the faster one doesnt. I realize this way of thinking can be kind of a self-fulfilling trend, but I think more often than not the random, solely attacking leads that try to break the mold will fail.

The beauty of these lead-type moves are that they dont exhaust an entire moveset. Your lead can often plan his remaining moveslots independent of the risky, blind initial encounter and instead look for coverage based on the rest of the metgame.

Based on these ideas, Electrode is clearly the best lead. He can Taunt before any other lead and then decide whether to use his supportive/disruptive move or attack and bring the other lead within KO range. But maybe youre thinking, Electrode really isnt a strong attacker, and I'd rather set up Stealth Rock than use Light Screen or Explode. So now Aero is the best lead. However, along comes Metagross with a super-effective Bullet Punch, effectively giving Aero one turn to use before being KOed; an effective counter/Anti-Lead. Of course, your Metagross Anti-Lead isnt always matched up with a Aero, and so you could be a sitting duck in front of Rotom-A who then uses your switch to set up a screen for free. Rotom-A might be facing a lead Drapion, who is both a faster Taunter and carries a super-effective STAB move, though he could be locked into one of them if that Rotom-A is actually rocking a Choice Scarf to trick. You might have a Focus Sash, but Ambipom might have Fake Out. Not all common scenarios I know, but the point I think thats worth making is that even when trying to counter just lead strategies, there are pokes that fill certain niches that counter your counter-thinking. This doesnt mean theres no such thing as an Anti-Lead, just that there's always a way around it.
 
Far too unreliable there is no "anti-lead" created yet that can counter successfully all the common lead pokemon with the common sets that infernape set can't stop a meta with occa because say you encored or fire blasted 1st turn ur opponent carries out EQ then BP's goodbye to anti lead...
 
Copycat ;)
I've been using Dragon Pulse/Explosion > Flamethrower on my SpecsTran lead, as it has better used that Flamethrower.
You forgot to mention how Overheat OHKO's OccaGross and Standard Hippowdon too.

@Edit: Oops, never mind, you did. Sorry. You're still a copycat though. I've been using this for the past month. ;)
I've been using it longer than that, but whatever. Dragon pulse and explosion are great moves, too, for the last slot. It's all up to preference.
 
"Anti-leads" = Proof that Stealth rock it's broken, or at least overcentralizes the metagame.

Jolteon? anyone remember this guy?

Anyway, I use suicide Camerupt as lead, not to prevent rocks from getting set (it's impossible to have a 100% sucess of not getting rocks floating in your field) but for doing a lot damage to common leads.
As much as I was a big proponent of keeping stealth rock in the game for most formats for a very long time...I agree with you at this point. Stealth Rock is more than just a design error on par with the rest of the sloppy mechanics, it's a serious problem and we should consider banning it.
 
Far too unreliable there is no "anti-lead" created yet that can counter successfully all the common lead pokemon with the common sets that infernape set can't stop a meta with occa because say you encored or fire blasted 1st turn ur opponent carries out EQ then BP's goodbye to anti lead...
Lol of course there is no anti-lead that can counter all pokemon. If there was... it would be banned for being too broken(Deoxys-E anyone?) People use anti-leads like Infernape to build their own strategy. Ok.. so it cant beat Metagross, so what? It can't stop you from settin rocks either. It is not too far unreliable.. If you build a team that includes an anti-lead, which I do 95% of the time, it can be successful provided the team has the right synenergy.
 
As much as I was a big proponent of keeping stealth rock in the game for most formats for a very long time...I agree with you at this point. Stealth Rock is more than just a design error on par with the rest of the sloppy mechanics, it's a serious problem and we should consider banning it.
I don't really think it's fair to pin down the use of anti-leads solely on Stealth Rock. Sure, Stealth Rock may cause more anti-leads to learn towards having the sole purpose of preventing them from getting them set-up, but any effective anti-lead should also be able to serve other purposes on your team as well.

And please, let's not change the focus of this thread to arguing whether Stealth Rock is overcentralizing or not. That is not the purpose of this thread!
 
Well, Anti-leads specifically exist to completely shut down other leads that the team can't handle, and that often involves SR. For example, Weavile completely beats Azelf and Aerodactyl. If the opponent leads with a Metagross/Jirachi/Heatran, then you should have a strong Earthquake user on your team to deal with that, such as Flygon/Swampert/whatever.

Then, there are Immediate Damage Leads. These differ from Anti-leads in that they work to OHKO/2HKO about every possibly lead out there, but they don't exist to specifically stop a lead from completing its mission. Let's take, for example, ReyScarface's Alakazam, or really any lead thing in the Creative Movesets thread.

Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 36 HP/252 Spa/220 Speed
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- HP [Fire]
- Grass Knot
- Focus Blast

It can 2HKO or OHKO any common lead. But it isn't an Anti-lead, because if Azelf/Aerodactyl die to set up SR, they have completed their mission. Heatran and Metagross and Jirachi all get up SR as well. And Focus Blast, needless to say, isn't the most accurate move (missing on Tyranitar would be disappointing).

All right, I've been rambling, but let me get to my point: Anti-leads should be used specifically on teams that are somewhat weak to a certain threat that is seen as a lead. Their job is to stop the lead from completing its mission and do nothing else. Immediate Damage leads have a more general role to...deal immediate damage. I would characterize them as more usable than Anti-leads.
 
Depending on what pokemon you have on your team, letting your opponent set up Stealth Rock might not be a bad thing. With the exception of Azelf and Aerodactyl, every single lead is going to also be an attacking force of some kind, and if the majority of your non-lead pokemon are weak to this attacking force, then crippling it with a tricked Choice Scarf or going for the KO on it will be more important than stopping it from setting up Stealth Rock.
 
Actually, a Rotom lead works excellently in the metagame today. While it doesn't particularly deal with stopping or adding on residual damage, it can set up Dual Screen or screw over some opposing Pokemon. With Substitute, it can pretty much net you a kill. At any rate, common leads like Metagross, Azelf, Jirachi, Swampert, Hippowdon, etc. aren't getting past it. Will-o-Wisp essentially destroys the common leads bar Infernape and Aerodactyl (he's usually just sacrificed before the next poke comes out...). Rotom is definitely useful as a lead for bulky offensive teams since a kill in exchange for the opponent getting up their Rocks is usually worth it. Not to mention that Rotom has several things it can do besides just leading.

EDIT: Here's a successful team it was used in - http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58038
 
I couldn't disagree more with d2m's assertion that hyper offense is the best team to use anti-leads in. In fact, I only care about putting up my own rocks and hopefully allowing the next thing i bring in setup time.

Hyper Offense switches so seldomly that I hardly care if my opponent gets rocks up.

But that is my team. Standard teams do quite a bit of switching, making stealth rock one of the most potent moves in the game. So, if your lead can't put it up, prevent it, and do significant damage to the other lead (or preferrably a combination of these) then honestly it isn't helping you.

Machamp is a great example of a lead that will give you a short-term early game advantage but will not give you any sort of long-term help. Another example of this is Yanmega. The fact is that Machamp/Yanmega will NEVER stop or set up rocks. They may take 1-2 pokemon with them, but stealth rock can do 200% damage in a game pretty easily too. While that is already a lot, it also stops damage from things that you kill thanks to stealth rock, can make 2-3hkos into 1-2hkos, and also nullifies focus sashes, making even the ridiculous amount of damage it does throughout the game an innacurate representation of its value.

So, is it worth it to have a 5-6 lead when you are giving up on 200+% damage to do so?
 
My favorite anti-lead isn't anything fancy, just a simple specstran. I used it on one of my hyper offensive teams with great success.


Heatran@Choice Specs
Modest
Flash Fire
252 SpA/252 Spe/6 HP
-Overheat
-Earth Power
-HP Grass
-Flamethrower

Overheat: OHKO Occa Berry Metagross, Jirachi, and Hippowdon? yes please. any other lead that doesn't resist won't stand a fucking chance.

Earth Power: An obvious choice on any heatran set. With choice specs equipped it can 2HKO max HP tyranitar, though staying in isn't worth it due to the risk of getting hit with EQ.

HP Grass: Easy kill on swampert because they never switch out expecting this.

Flamethrower: This is good for 2HKOing Azelf when you don't want to miss with overheat or lower your sp atk. Great move for cleaning up slower teams.

Specs Overheat is possibly the most ridiculous move I ever used. It does up to 59% to swampert and always OHKOs naive salamence after stealth rock. Offensive teams that rely on stuff like gyarados, flygon, and the aformentioned salamence as their fire resist will usually find themselves losing a pokemon everytime they make a switch into this. The best thing about this lead is that it quickly disposes of virtually every lead slower than it, preventing from ever getting stealth rock up or being a nuisance later. It doesn't mind being tricked a scarf either.

endeavor leads can give it issues but they aren't nearly as popular as the leads it can handle.
this is a pretty good set that I've tested before. Still hates Mamo/Ape/Aero but its not too bad at all.
 
For the above set I believe Lava Plume can be run over Flamethrower as the burn rate will assist in OHKOing quite a few sash users. Other then that it is a nice set, matches up well against most common leads.
 
So, is it worth it to have a 5-6 lead when you are giving up on 200+% damage to do so?
I think the most important thing to consider in this scenario is whether you are able to regain momentum in a match after you have taken down the opponent's lead. This is why anti-leads should be considered for a team anyways - to gain the early momentum in a match and force the opponent into a corner. Of course, I'm sure everyone agrees that the concept on an anti-lead isn't perfect, and as with any other Pokémon, it is able to get set up on.

As for your question, I don't think having been unable to set up Stealth Rock at the beginning of the match is as big of an issue as you think. First of all, there are plenty of good transition Pokémon that can come in on a resisted attack and force the opposition out, such as Heatran and Swampert, which are both great at setting down Stealth Rock at any stage of the game. In this case, not only did you still gain the early game advantage, but you even managed to set down Stealth Rock. Even without Stealth Rock, if you manage to keep the offensive throughout the match, then yes, I'd definitely prefer to be up 6-5 at the cost of perhaps not laying down Stealth Rock, since I'd be doing enough damage to my opponent to make up for that matter. I've often used lead Metagross just to take down opposing Stealth Rock leads, and even if I did not manage to lay down SR, I'd still manage to stay on the offensive most of the time.
 
Machamp is a great example of a lead that will give you a short-term early game advantage but will not give you any sort of long-term help. Another example of this is Yanmega. The fact is that Machamp/Yanmega will NEVER stop or set up rocks. They may take 1-2 pokemon with them, but stealth rock can do 200% damage in a game pretty easily too. While that is already a lot, it also stops damage from things that you kill thanks to stealth rock, can make 2-3hkos into 1-2hkos, and also nullifies focus sashes, making even the ridiculous amount of damage it does throughout the game an innacurate representation of its value.

So, is it worth it to have a 5-6 lead when you are giving up on 200+% damage to do so?
An anti lead's use is determined on a team by team basis. If you're team isn't particularly stealth rock weak, I think allowing the rocks to come up to put in some early holes in a team is worth it. I've used the anti lead Machamp you discussed. With great bulk, substitute, and a lum berry, you usually have what it takes to hit a lead really hard or force it to switch via Encore/Substitute. You can soften up opponents for the rest of your team. Either they are literally weakened or they are forced to heal their wounds, giving you time to set up your own rocks. Also, if you aren't stupid, you'll leave your anti lead in good health if possible, allowing it to be a contributing member later in the game. You also don't HAVE to set up rocks first turn.
 
I admit that I didn't mention transition pokes that set up rocks, but why wouldn't you just lead with that?
While I have to agree I'd normally set-up Stealth Rock most of the time myself, it isn't fair to automatically ignore the useful of other leads. And sometimes, there are leads that would only be viable in the lead position, such as Toxic Spikes Roserade and Focus Sash Lucario, and both of these are unable to get up Stealth Rock on their own.
 
I couldn't disagree more with d2m's assertion that hyper offense is the best team to use anti-leads in. In fact, I only care about putting up my own rocks and hopefully allowing the next thing i bring in setup time.

Hyper Offense switches so seldomly that I hardly care if my opponent gets rocks up.

But that is my team. Standard teams do quite a bit of switching, making stealth rock one of the most potent moves in the game. So, if your lead can't put it up, prevent it, and do significant damage to the other lead (or preferrably a combination of these) then honestly it isn't helping you.

Machamp is a great example of a lead that will give you a short-term early game advantage but will not give you any sort of long-term help. Another example of this is Yanmega. The fact is that Machamp/Yanmega will NEVER stop or set up rocks. They may take 1-2 pokemon with them, but stealth rock can do 200% damage in a game pretty easily too. While that is already a lot, it also stops damage from things that you kill thanks to stealth rock, can make 2-3hkos into 1-2hkos, and also nullifies focus sashes, making even the ridiculous amount of damage it does throughout the game an innacurate representation of its value.

So, is it worth it to have a 5-6 lead when you are giving up on 200+% damage to do so?
If your lead takes down 2 or more of their pokemon, they've lost 2 walls/counters/checks to your powerful sweepers as a hyper-offensive team. For example, say they lead with Metagross against the Anti-lead Infernape. They set up rocks first turn while you do 50-60% damage with Fire Blast/Overheat. Then you pick Close Combat to finish them off and they swap in scarftran to take the second fire attack and he ends up OHKO'd. Then they switch in something and kill you or force you out. Fine, but they just lost their revenge killer to DD mence, so you can sweep with him as soon as you find a time to setup, which isn't too hard.

Anti-leads build momentum by taking out the opposing lead while either preventing rocks or creating a situation that allows another of your team members to sweep. This is best used on hyper-offensive teams with one or more setup sweepers or choiced pokemon.

Stealth Rock is a completely broken addition to the game, but its benefits are more seen on stall teams that force great amounts of switches. If you run hyper offensive, you have wall breakers that stay in and wear down or kill multiple walls that allow for another person to sweep. On one of my teams, I had DD gyara that usually went first, then DD tar that swept the rest. Gyara hits the walls hard enough that when Tar comes in, he finishes everything off. If my lead takes out one of the checks to either one, it's that much easier to sweep. Wasting a turn setting up rocks allows the other player to either set up rocks of his own, or build offensive momentum by making a beneficial switch, and that is precisely what hyper offensive teams must avoid.
 
I admit that I didn't mention transition pokes that set up rocks, but why wouldn't you just lead with that?
Well I think one reason is to avoid being taunted out of your rocks. Any poke good at forcing switches can throw up stealth rocks, including popular ones like Swampert, Hippowdown and Metagross. Granted you're missing out damage SR couldve caused from previous turns, but I sometimes find it more reliable. Also, since your opponent is probably switching to a counter, at attack you chose instead of SR would probably do little harm.


Veering a little away from leads, it seems like the amount of rapid spinners is disproportionately low compared to the amount of stealth rockers. No one minds spending a turn to set them up, even sacrificing a poke to do so, but rarely do I see the same vigor for spinning them away. Not denying their usefulness, but if theyre so awesome why arent spinners dying to clear them? Maybe its just the teams I face where I dont see RS...
 
Lol of course there is no anti-lead that can counter all pokemon. If there was... it would be banned for being too broken(Deoxys-E anyone?) People use anti-leads like Infernape to build their own strategy. Ok.. so it cant beat Metagross, so what? It can't stop you from settin rocks either. It is not too far unreliable.. If you build a team that includes an anti-lead, which I do 95% of the time, it can be successful provided the team has the right synenergy.
Synergy* No anti lead that can counter all pokemon....then this anti-lead concept is stupid because anti suggests it's supposed to counter leads PLURAL and if this anti-lead can only counter one thing specifically it's more a counter or check than an anti-lead.
 
Anti - Leads are of course viable, however you can get screwed over by that one pokemon which owns you, but here is my anti -lead.


Role: LeadWrath (OU)
Poliwrath @ Leftovers
Nature: Adamant (+Atk,-SpA)
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Atk / 88 Def / 16 Spe
Moves:
~Bulk Up
~Substitute
~Focus Punch
~Waterfall / Ice Punch
Firstly i know this is very similar to the fused bulk up focus punch set on the analysis, however this one functions differently.

EVs: 252 HP / 0 Def Impish Nature means that Standard Metagross lead (232 Atk) cannot break Poliwrath's Substitute after a single bulk up, and the 16 Spe EVs allows him to outspeed Standard Lead Gross aswell. The rset of the EVs were dumped into Atk so Focus Punch can deal shit loads of damage, 225 Base Power hurts EVERYTHING.

Moves: Bulk Up + Substitute work as a move combo which allows it to beat common leads such as Bronzong, Swampert, Metagross and so on. Focus Punch uses Substitute so it can let out 225 Base Powered attacks, which hurts even things which resist it. Waterfall is the other STAB of choice, however Ice Punch can also be nice as otherwise, once you lose your Sub, Gyarados and Salamence can cause some problems. Damp is the surprise here, generally once Metagross break the Sub, they attempt to use Explosion, in which case they just lose a turn, the same goes for Bronzong, but they never break Subs haha.

How it fares against other common leads:
Aerodactyl: They always taunt, easily beaten with x2 Waterfalls
Bronzong: Ripped
Metagross: Ripped, see EVs ^^
Swampert: Fares the same as Metagross
Infernape: Close Combat deals (64 Atk) 35.16% - 41.67%, so no threat at all, easily 2HKOd.
Jirachi: Forces Poliwrath to switch
 

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