Double Bug Tag Team

[Wumbo in Chains]

Recently I've grown a very huge liking for the almight Volcarona, and thus I wanted to structure a team based around 2 of my favorite Pokemon ever, who also then happen to both be Bug type, Volcarona and Scizor.

My favorite kind of teams to run are more balanced teams, consisting of 2 defensive Pokes that compliment each other well, 2 sweepers, 1 Pivot/Utility Mon/Choiced Poke, and 1 Scarfer for late game. I usually start off my team-building process by thinking of a Pokemon that I want to use, and adding other Pokes that compliment it well and support it's weaknesses.

However, this team just seems to be lacking something that could help it be better, and I'm wondering if other people's input could help me make this team better.

Volcarona (Mothra) @ Leftovers

Ability: Flame Body
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
- Quiver Dance
- Roost
- Fiery Dance
- Bug Buzz
EVs: 252 HP, 52 Spe, 204 Def

My god do I love bulky Volcarona! It can not only take physical hits well, but Quiver Dance lets it take special hits fairly well, and acts as probably one of the best bulky sweepers in the entire game. However, one of the problems with this set, is that it can be checked a lot easier by Fire Types, namely Heatran, as I lack HP Rock, which is commonly seen on more offensive sets.


Scizor (Scizorus Black) @ Choice Band

Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp Atk)
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Sp Def

Choice Band Scizor is generic as fuck, but there's a reason it's used so much, because it does do a lot of work. Pursuit allows me to trap any Starmies, Jellicents, and the Lati twins easily, while U-Turn supports this semi Volt-Turn thing I have going on in my team, which you'll see later on with another Poke that I have.


Rotom-Wash (ShamRotomWow) @ Leftovers

Ability: Levitate
Nature: Calm (+Sp Def, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Wave
- Pain Split
EVs: 252 HP, 216 Sp Def, 40 Def

Rotom-Wash is one of the best specially defensive Pokes available in the metagame in my eyes, as he only has 1 weakness, is immune to Ground, and quite frankly can be annoying as hell for the opponent to deal with. I chose to give it some added bulk in Defense, to allow it to take physical hits a little bit better, which allows it to potentially get off Thunder Waves on an opponent that I think needs to be paralyzed.


Tentacruel (Squishy) @ Black Sludge

Ability: Rain Dish
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- Giga Drain
EVs: 252 HP, 240 Def, 16 Spe

Tentacruel acts as my spinner, which is crucial considering that Volcarona is sadly x4 weak to Stealth Rocks, meaning that I more than likely have to take them off the field in order for Volcarona to do work. Not only does Tentacruel provide Rapid Spin support, but it is also a very good mixed wall, slightly leaning more towards the defensive side. I chose to run Giga Drain over Ice Beam, in order to better deal with opposing Water types versus Ice Beam for Dragons and Flying types.


Landorus-Therian (Simba) @ Leftovers

Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Naive (+Spe, -Sp Def)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Hidden Power Ice
EVs: 190 HP, 40 Atk, 212 Def, 66 Spe

Landorus acts as a defensive pivot on my team, while at the same time being my Stealth Rocker, and being able to hit hard using Earthquake and Hidden Power Ice for opposing Landoruses and other Flying types, as it does offer some surprise factor to it, even though it is being seen on more Landoruses nowadays, it isn't the most common move ever on this particular Pokemon. U-Turn also allows him to be a part of the Volt-Turn section of my team.

Latios (Starscream) @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Trick
EVs: 252 Sp Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP

Latios is in my opinion one of the best Scarf users in the game, hitting much of the metagame hard with just Draco Meteor alone, while also being able to outspeed common base 108 Pokemon such as Keldeo and Terrakion. Trick is also here, to ensure that I will be able to severely cripple a wall late game if needed.
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There are a few problems I see with this team however, that I think need to be ironed out, and I am testing some new suggestions supplied to me by LightningLuxray and Remedy.

Threats
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Keldeo: Keldeo is a huge threat to this team, especially since my main special wall to him, Rotom-W, will be 2 Hit KO'd by Secret Sword, which makes the Expert Belt set especially dangerous. I would more than likely have to sack something in order to switch Latios in to hopefully OHKO with a Psyshock.

Tyranitar: Tyranitar is able to OHKO my Choice Scarfer with Pursuit or Crunch, which is always something I've found troublesome with Latios. On top of that, Tyranitar matches up well with my main defensive Poke in Tentacruel, and can also OHKO Volcarona with Stone Edge, and still survive a Bug Buzz if it is the bulky set.

Skarmory: Lead Skarmory is one of the most annoying things for me to go up against, as it can set up Stealth Rocks and at least 1 layer of Spikes, severely crippling my Volcarona. And if I try to switch in Volcarona to hit it hard, it can more often than not OHKO with a Brave Bird.

Vaporeon: I have always found Vaporeon in the rain troublesome to go up against, as if I fail to OHKO it, it can just Rest off the damage fully and be healed at the end of the turn. If Rotom-W dies then Vaporeon will just be all the more damn annoying to take down.

Blissey/Chansey: I have always found these two among the most annoying Pokemon ever to take down. Being than I have more of a special presence than a physical one, they are able to wall a good portion of my team, bar Scizor, who can be severely crippled by the common Thunder Wave, and damaged greatly by Flamethrower.

Any positive feedback is greatly appreciated, as well as if you think something on here needs a replacement that has better synergy with all the other members of my team.

 

[LightningLuxray]

Hi! I'm new to rating, though I've went over the forums reading and have taken all the necessary steps for rating a team, so I'm hoping I don't sound like a total dumb-ass. :) Anyways, firstly, I've noticed that you rely a lot on Scizor for your resists. For example, he is your only Pokemon to resist Dark, Ghost, and Dragon type moves. Because Latios is weak to these moves, I might want to consider a different Scarfer. For a Steel Scarfer (for the Dragin resist), I would recommend Jirachi; while it does take neutral damage from Ghost and Dark type moves, it can reliably take and/or revenge kill the users of these moves, meaning it would make a great fit. I would recommend a standard Scarf set with Iron Head/Ice Punch/U-Turn/Trick, with U-Turn making your team one that is semi-VoltTurn, while trick can cripple walls that your team may have trouble with (Healing Wish can also work to heal Rona, though the fact that you have spinner means Trick is a better option.)

Also, on a side note, I would recommend T-Bolt over T-Wave on Rotom-W, mainly due to the fact that Rotom is your main check to many bulk-waters, and can deal significant to many of them. Gasto also seems like a problem, so Giga Drain on Volcarona can check him and the rare Swampert, while also giving you another answer to other waters and a semi-reliable form of recovery.

Anyways, I hope this helps! :)

 

[Reymedy]

Hello.
That's a really nice team that you got right there, considering that you're look fairly new to the competitive scene. Since you didn't really make an analysis of your team, I'll try to give mine as a rater.
You start with Volcarona, which means that you'll have to provide the bug with a lot of support (support his set-up + get out of the way stuff like Heatran).
Scizor is an interesting choice that I like because you can trap stuff, as you said yourself... Though, I don't see the point of traping Psy pokemons when they're the reason why Volcarona can set-up with so much ease. However, what is actually good in Scizor is that you can sorta lure Heatan (not a lot of teams have several solid switch in to Scizor, if the guy has a Heatran, he may not have another answer to Scizor).
However, the fact that Keldeo both wall Scizor and Volcarona worries me.
Then you got Rotom-W, who can sorta check Keldeo, but is by no mean a reliable answer (2HKO'd by Secret Sword). Rotom-W + Scizor is definitely something you like to have in a team. Now, the volt-turn + volcarona combinaison leads me to believe that you NEED a spinner. And there you go with Tentacruel. I must admit that I don't really like this guy in a weatherless though. You lose to a lot of crap you're supposed to beat if you don't have that Rain Dish running on. On top of that, Tentacruel looks really limited to spinning.
And finally, you got Lando-T and Latias (Lando-T is pretty good considering how Terrak weak the rest of the team is, Latios can be some kind of weak answer to Keldeo, I don't really like the Scarf though).

So, let's check the weaknesses :
- Garchomp. In my opinion, he puts a ton of pressure on your team because the only thing able to outspeed him is Latios (you won't be switching it in). You got decent checks in Lando-T and Scizor, but both could be killed with the right move (a fire move for Scizor, and Outrage/SD for Lando-t).
- Gastrodon, because it walls a big part of your team and can even stop Volcarona with Toxic and burn stuff with Scald. You got Giga Drain on Tentacruel but I don't feel like it's the best answer ever.
- Lati@s with HP Fire. Since you only answer to Dragons is Scizor, if you lose it to a surprise HP Fire, you're really in a bad position. You could set-up Volcarona if the Lati@s is choiced, but if it was not the case, then you lost it for free.
- Keldeo could sweep if Tentacruel gets weakened.

Okay, besides the weaknesses, there is an issue lying behind. Your team is too slow, in my opinion. For instance, I don't feel like you can win against an offense unless it's REALLY Volcarona weak (and they're usually weak to 3 attacks Volcarona). Because your defensive core covers a lot of things defensively, but is rather shaky when you stop considering threats one by one. For instance, once Lando-T is weakened (and he will be), then Terrak will sweep really easily (imagine an offense with Chomp+Terrak or paired with Breloom). You'll be forced to rely on Latios in order to revenge kill too often (which leaves many set-up possibilities, and easy trapping).
It's kinda the same with Keldeo and for any sweeper who has the possiblity to outspeed uninvested 100 speed mark.

So, what I'd do is simple :

- Starmie over Tentacruel, you can now revenge kill a lot of stuff while retaining the Rapid Spin ability. On top of that, it should help against Keldeo, Garchomp etc... because you don't have anymore to use Latios. An Expert-Belt or a LO version.
The LO version helps against Gastrodon because you can hit it really hard with Psychock. By the way I'd go for HPump/Psyshock/IceBeam/RS (Psychic over Psyshock if you wanna try to EBelt version). A fast pokemon like Starmie could really be life saving, especially when playing against Dragons (you really don't want to have your whole team slower than a CB Nite).

- Change Scizor to a Acrobatics version. I like it better because you give less set-up possiblities to Keldeo, but you also get the power to set-up on a Pursuit Ttar (it's always a bit risky to use Volcarona because you never know if it's really locked). You pressure bulky waters better. With Superpower you can grab a kill on Heatran if it's not a full speed version.

That's the two main changes I'd like to try, but you should also improve those spreads. Lando-T's one is really weird, you hit 257 Speed, which means that Nite outspeeds you. Instead, try a 248 HP / 144 Def / 116 Spe spread with a + Speed Nature (you outspeed Toxicroak, I don't really like the -SpD Nature, but whatever).

Here are the Scizor / Starmie sets :

Hide

Scizor @ Flying Gem
Technician
248 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Acrobatics
- Superpower
- Sword Dance

You outspeed neutral speed nature Breloom, thus defensive Heatran too (and crap like Specs Toed etc).

Starmie @ Life Orb
Natural Cure / Analytic (you can try this shit, I've heard good things about it)
32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Rapid Spin

Classic spread, you have just enough to outspeed Tornadus.

I hope it helped, given how "classic" the team pattern was, you could actually try many many changes to improve it, and go different roads. I hope the road I chose will suit you.

 

[Wumbo in Chains]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions LightningLuxray and Remedy!

I'll definitely be taking into account these suggestions and implementing them into my team, and testing them out to see how well they work.

Funny enough that Acrobatics Scizor should be mentioned, as a few days ago I tried creating a similar team with a few different Pokes (I can't exactly remember all of them though), and funny enough I used Acrobatics Scizor on that team, and it just might be my new favorite Scizor set, as it is unexpected, but not so niche that it doesn't work or is unviable.

Also, after playing around with Tentacruel, I do agree with you Remedy that Tentacruel isn't that good outside of Rain, due to his lack of recovery, and also the fact that their are other spinners that more often than not, can fit into a weatherless team better and do a better job at spinning than he can, especially Starmie.

Also, I'll try out that Scarfed Jirachi like you mentioned Luxray, although Scarfed Jirachi and I have a love-hate relationship. Sometimes he does work for me, yet other times he just lacks those all-powerful moves that can net me KOs.

And I love Jirachi, but oftentimes I think he's more suited to a role where he can take advantage of Serene Grace through Paraflinching or confusion hax, versus being a good scarfer, but I will try him out.

Oh, and also, I prefer to run T-Wave on Rotom over T-Bolt, simply because spreading paralysis is one of the best ways I can see to hinder opponent's sweepers.

One of the other problems I see here though, is usually on my teams I like to fit in at least 2 types of status-inducers somehow, so I've tried playing around with Toxic on Landorus-T somewhat, but I'm not sure if it's such a great idea on him.

I like having 2 status inducing moves at least, as it allows me to cripple a wider variety of Pokemon, especially if I go up against something that is immune to the 1 that I have (which at the moment is paralysis).

Will edit the OP when I decide on what the new team will look like after some testing.