The last time I did an RMT was almost five months ago and since then I've made a fair few changes to my team. I quite like what it's become, but unfortunately I've run into a few pokemon that I'm finding hard to deal with, and so I'd like some feedback on how I could improve my team do deal with them, as well as just general feedback on the team itself.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252HP/ 152 Atk / 4 Def / 100 SpD
Adamant Nature(+Atk, -SpA)
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
This Tyranitar hurts extremely hard and brings sandstorm, while also having substantial special tankiness. In the sand, he's capable of surviving attacks from Ninetales and Politoed and hitting back with extremely powerful attacks. The moves have fairly strong coverage and so with good prediction almost every switch-in will take a huge chunk of damage.
I use Tyranitar over Hippowdon because I feel that Hippo unbalances my teams' spread of defence, leaving only Rotom-W to deal with special attacks. In addition, I feel that he doesn't act as a big enough threat.
One cute thing I found out by accident is that with the EV spread I'm using, TTar will survive a BP from Choice Band Scizor with 1% HP after SR damage and then OHKO back, which has actually let me win a few times.
Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Fire Fang
Donphan actually makes a surprisingly good taker of physical hits and is a fairly regular switch-in to a physical dragon type, threatening with a hard hitting Ice Shard to scare away Dragonite and Salamence, as well as Garchomp. I made the decision to run 3 attacks + rapid spin because of the additional coverage it provides, it's disturbing how many pokemon are OHKO or 2HKO'd by this Donphan set. Fire Fang mostly exists on this team solely to hit Scizor, Ferrothorn and Forretress for massive damage. This set tends to be good against quite a lot of rapid spinners, forcing them to choose whether to remove rocks and take a large amount of damage, or swap out and keep the rocks in.
Latios @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power Fire
This guy is very very fast, and hits hard too. He can act as a solid revenge killer, as well as a check to slower dragons assuming Draco Meteor doesn't miss. Hidden Power Fire literally only exists on this set to attempt to deal with Skarmory and Ferrothorn, but it doesn't feel like it's enough. This Latios is also one of my two checks for rain teams, as Latios resists a fair few moves that commonly appear on rain teams.
Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
This washing machine is a disturbingly effective pokemon against rain teams, checking or even straight countering a silly amount of pokemon. With the inclusion of this little guy, threats such as Gliscor who used to be a major threat to my team just stopped being that major of a threat. My primary beef with this guy is that Hydro Pump misses too often, but otherwise he's a solid member of my team. Alongside Lando-T, he makes up a defensive core as well as a VoltTurn core, and he's happy to eat many of the ice-type moves directed at Lando.
Terrakion @ Salac Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
I love this Terrakion set. He is essentially entirely unchanged from five months ago, with the exception of moving 4 EVs from SpD to HP, so that after 3 substitutes he's at 25% and Salac pops. As a lategame sweeper with his checks and their priority attackers out of the way, he is essentially unstoppable.
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 244 HP / 64 Atk / 200 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Yeah, this guy is unchanged. He is just that good, why fix what ain't broke. He is often my lead, and things often work well. I run Rock Slide on him over Stone Edge, because the difference in power is often unnoticeable and I prefer reliability on him. I'll generally only be using Rock Slide if there's a x2 or greater weakness to it anyway, and as such there's no major need for more power, only hitting often.
Now, the main reason I made this was to get help with dealing with specific threats, and here they are.
Offensive Threats
S-Tier
Weavile - Screw this guy. I hate him so much. He outspeeds basically everyone on my team, and hits everyone for massive damage. He is able to OHKO everyone on my team, with the exception of Rotom-W, who is a 2HKO. This guy is bullshit and makes babies cry.
Breloom - It's been scientifically proven that if you use Breloom, you're an asshole. No one on my team likes eating a Spore, and his stabs hit a large portion of my team for massive damage, and his use of priority is also a pain. If he's running leech seed, that is also a pain due to it affecting everyone on my team and forcing a switch.
Metagross - "But how is this guy a threat?", you ask. Well, sure, Ground type attacks on my team almost universally OHKO him, but there's the small little thing that an Agility + BP + Meteor Mash + Ice Punch Metagross completely wipes my team. This has happened several times. I do not like this. Clear Body also prevents Lando's intimidate from working on him.
Magnezone - Sure, I don't have any steel types on my team, but that doesn't stop this guy from OHKO or 2HKO-ing everyone on my team. Flash Cannon and Thunderbolt alone are capable of basically wiping me. Sure he's easy to kill, but he'll probably take someone with him.
A-Tier
Scizor - While Landorus-T acts as a check for Scizor with Intimidate and enormous physical defensiveness, once he's down there is nothing whatsoever stopping Scizor from cleaning up my team.
Bisharp - Don't you dare laugh. This demon from hell comes from the depths of UU to make me cry. If I see him on the other team I have to ensure that my play is perfect or he'll capitalize on the mistake and wreck me.
Scrafty - Scrafty is actually disturbingly effective against my team, as his physical bulkiness stops easy revenge kills while his coverage means OHKOs or 2HKOs against most of my team.
Defensive Threats
S-Tier
Skarmory - This guy is legitimately probably responsible for a third of my losses. He walls basically everyone on my team, and the best move I have against him is HP Fire on Latios, which is still a 2HKO. Really, the only two moves that I have which threaten him are Volt Switch and HP Fire, but with even brain-dead prediction he can be kept safe from them.
Celebi - Only TTar and Lando's U-turn threaten Celebi to any serious degree, but no decent player leaves Celebi into those pokemon. This dude forces a switch from most of my pokemon, which often lets him Nasty Plot + Baton Pass, or Recover + Baton Pass as needed. He seems supremely effective and I don't like it :<
Gastrodon - Gastrodon is actually capable of walling my team to a surprisingly large degree, as well as hitting back quite hard. My only 'check' to him is actually Rotom-W, but that involves Will-O-Wisping him and then mashing Pain Split, then swapping out at opportune moments to refresh the inevitable toxic counter. Gastrodon is anti-fun :(
Ferrothorn - This pokemon is legitimately ridiculous. Even with my team deliberately running moves specifically to counter him, he still manages to be a huge pain. Gyro ball also hurts an enormous amount, and limits my ability to use Terrakion and Latios while he's on the field. Everything he does is full of stupid and makes me angry.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252HP/ 152 Atk / 4 Def / 100 SpD
Adamant Nature(+Atk, -SpA)
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
This Tyranitar hurts extremely hard and brings sandstorm, while also having substantial special tankiness. In the sand, he's capable of surviving attacks from Ninetales and Politoed and hitting back with extremely powerful attacks. The moves have fairly strong coverage and so with good prediction almost every switch-in will take a huge chunk of damage.
I use Tyranitar over Hippowdon because I feel that Hippo unbalances my teams' spread of defence, leaving only Rotom-W to deal with special attacks. In addition, I feel that he doesn't act as a big enough threat.
One cute thing I found out by accident is that with the EV spread I'm using, TTar will survive a BP from Choice Band Scizor with 1% HP after SR damage and then OHKO back, which has actually let me win a few times.
Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Fire Fang
Donphan actually makes a surprisingly good taker of physical hits and is a fairly regular switch-in to a physical dragon type, threatening with a hard hitting Ice Shard to scare away Dragonite and Salamence, as well as Garchomp. I made the decision to run 3 attacks + rapid spin because of the additional coverage it provides, it's disturbing how many pokemon are OHKO or 2HKO'd by this Donphan set. Fire Fang mostly exists on this team solely to hit Scizor, Ferrothorn and Forretress for massive damage. This set tends to be good against quite a lot of rapid spinners, forcing them to choose whether to remove rocks and take a large amount of damage, or swap out and keep the rocks in.
Latios @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power Fire
This guy is very very fast, and hits hard too. He can act as a solid revenge killer, as well as a check to slower dragons assuming Draco Meteor doesn't miss. Hidden Power Fire literally only exists on this set to attempt to deal with Skarmory and Ferrothorn, but it doesn't feel like it's enough. This Latios is also one of my two checks for rain teams, as Latios resists a fair few moves that commonly appear on rain teams.
Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
This washing machine is a disturbingly effective pokemon against rain teams, checking or even straight countering a silly amount of pokemon. With the inclusion of this little guy, threats such as Gliscor who used to be a major threat to my team just stopped being that major of a threat. My primary beef with this guy is that Hydro Pump misses too often, but otherwise he's a solid member of my team. Alongside Lando-T, he makes up a defensive core as well as a VoltTurn core, and he's happy to eat many of the ice-type moves directed at Lando.
Terrakion @ Salac Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
I love this Terrakion set. He is essentially entirely unchanged from five months ago, with the exception of moving 4 EVs from SpD to HP, so that after 3 substitutes he's at 25% and Salac pops. As a lategame sweeper with his checks and their priority attackers out of the way, he is essentially unstoppable.
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 244 HP / 64 Atk / 200 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Yeah, this guy is unchanged. He is just that good, why fix what ain't broke. He is often my lead, and things often work well. I run Rock Slide on him over Stone Edge, because the difference in power is often unnoticeable and I prefer reliability on him. I'll generally only be using Rock Slide if there's a x2 or greater weakness to it anyway, and as such there's no major need for more power, only hitting often.
Now, the main reason I made this was to get help with dealing with specific threats, and here they are.
Offensive Threats
S-Tier
Weavile - Screw this guy. I hate him so much. He outspeeds basically everyone on my team, and hits everyone for massive damage. He is able to OHKO everyone on my team, with the exception of Rotom-W, who is a 2HKO. This guy is bullshit and makes babies cry.
Breloom - It's been scientifically proven that if you use Breloom, you're an asshole. No one on my team likes eating a Spore, and his stabs hit a large portion of my team for massive damage, and his use of priority is also a pain. If he's running leech seed, that is also a pain due to it affecting everyone on my team and forcing a switch.
Metagross - "But how is this guy a threat?", you ask. Well, sure, Ground type attacks on my team almost universally OHKO him, but there's the small little thing that an Agility + BP + Meteor Mash + Ice Punch Metagross completely wipes my team. This has happened several times. I do not like this. Clear Body also prevents Lando's intimidate from working on him.
Magnezone - Sure, I don't have any steel types on my team, but that doesn't stop this guy from OHKO or 2HKO-ing everyone on my team. Flash Cannon and Thunderbolt alone are capable of basically wiping me. Sure he's easy to kill, but he'll probably take someone with him.
A-Tier
Scizor - While Landorus-T acts as a check for Scizor with Intimidate and enormous physical defensiveness, once he's down there is nothing whatsoever stopping Scizor from cleaning up my team.
Bisharp - Don't you dare laugh. This demon from hell comes from the depths of UU to make me cry. If I see him on the other team I have to ensure that my play is perfect or he'll capitalize on the mistake and wreck me.
Scrafty - Scrafty is actually disturbingly effective against my team, as his physical bulkiness stops easy revenge kills while his coverage means OHKOs or 2HKOs against most of my team.
Defensive Threats
S-Tier
Skarmory - This guy is legitimately probably responsible for a third of my losses. He walls basically everyone on my team, and the best move I have against him is HP Fire on Latios, which is still a 2HKO. Really, the only two moves that I have which threaten him are Volt Switch and HP Fire, but with even brain-dead prediction he can be kept safe from them.
Celebi - Only TTar and Lando's U-turn threaten Celebi to any serious degree, but no decent player leaves Celebi into those pokemon. This dude forces a switch from most of my pokemon, which often lets him Nasty Plot + Baton Pass, or Recover + Baton Pass as needed. He seems supremely effective and I don't like it :<
Gastrodon - Gastrodon is actually capable of walling my team to a surprisingly large degree, as well as hitting back quite hard. My only 'check' to him is actually Rotom-W, but that involves Will-O-Wisping him and then mashing Pain Split, then swapping out at opportune moments to refresh the inevitable toxic counter. Gastrodon is anti-fun :(
Ferrothorn - This pokemon is legitimately ridiculous. Even with my team deliberately running moves specifically to counter him, he still manages to be a huge pain. Gyro ball also hurts an enormous amount, and limits my ability to use Terrakion and Latios while he's on the field. Everything he does is full of stupid and makes me angry.
