Team Dual Core
Hey folks, Abrams here and bringing you my very first RMT on Smogon. I´ve been into competitive battling for some years and recently had a break for about one year. Thrown into a totally new metagame, I decided to build a team myself and I hope you guys can help me to improve it. At the moment this team has an ELO-rating of ~1650 but struggles to get past this rating.
The team is centered about two cores, mainly the well-known Scizor/Rotom-Wash combo as well as the Bisharp/Gardevoir-M/Heatran core. They work pretty well together, but they do have their weaks. So I present you my Dual Core Team:
The Mindgame
Bisharp (M) @ Life-Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
Bisharp is giving my opponents a headache everytime he enters the battlefield. He can remove the Lati-twins as well as those annoying Fairy-types. I usually spam Knock Offs in the early game to weaken the likes of Skarmory or Ferrothorn. I used to run Pursuit over Swords Dance, but I didn´t use it that much so I opted for a move to boost his attack to sky-high levels. For this reason, I simply went for max. attack and speed. Defiant is one of my new favorite abilities and helps a lot against one of the most common switch-ins: Landorus-T.
The Powerhouse
Gardevoir (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Will-O-Wisp
- Focus Blast
The mega on my team is just absurdly powerful. Anything that doesn´t resist its STAB-moves loses a big chunk of its health. The most common switch-ins Heatran and Ferrothorn can be 2HKOed by Focus Blast and a bit prediction. I used to run a spread of 16 HP / 252 SpA / 240 Spe with a modest nature, but this didn´t allow me to outspeed and smash Excadrill (which is a big threat to this team). Psyshock helps against all those Assault Vest users and works well against Venusaur. Hyper Voice destroys with STAB Pixilate 90 BP everything in its way and spamming it is a great way to soften up my opponent´s defense.
The Do-It-All-Mon
Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Spe
Bold Nature
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
Heatran is probably the most important mon on this team. It´s not only my best answer to stall, it also counters the likes of Aegislash and Talonflame, and it is also adept at taking all those Draco Meteors from Lati@s. When Tran dies and Talonflame is still alive, I´m usually in big trouble. I would like to split up its tasks so that I don´t lose games anymore just because I ran into a random Earthquake. Unfortunately, I always miss the burn when I really need the burn on something. But that´s not just my problem I guess ;D
The Damage Platform
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Roost
Latios is really a beast. Not only it forces my opponents Charizard-X out with its sheer presence, but it hits nearly every switch-in like a truck. It also provides some useful resistances against water and fighting and therefore stops Keldeo, which would otherwise rip through my team. Psyshock is great against Venusaur and Conkeldurr, as is Surf against Ttar (LO-Latios can 2HKO Ttars without SpD investment). With the spread I get the maximum power and minimum LO recoil per turn. And Roost is just a great option for free turns or Protects.
The Backbone
Rotom-Wash @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 216 SpD / 44 Spe
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
As the title says, Rotom is some kind of backbone for my team. When I don´t know what to do I just switch to Rotom. With its incredible Dual-STABs it can do serious damage as well as retaining momentum with Volt Switch. I ran the Pain Split-version earlier, but this way I had nothing to absorb status. So I switched to the Chesto-Resto-Rotom. It´s usually my lead and it does its job very well so far. The only problem is the one-time-use of Rest. Once used, I´m lacking a reliable recovery because I dont want to give my opponent a set-up opportunity. The speed investment is to outrun Adamant Azumarill and burn it before it can do serious damage to my team.
The Revengekiller
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Landorus-T serves as my revenge-killer and my best answer to Excadrill and Charizard-X as it is able to KO both of them with STAB Earthquake coming from an impressive 145-Base-Atk. It also helps me to create momentum with U-Turn and works quite well with Rotom-W. I prefer to use Rock Slide over Stone Edge because of the shaky accuracy (Rock Slide still gets the OHKOs on Talonflame and Pinsir-Mega). The filler move is Knock Off, mainly to hit Eviolite users unexpctedly or to finish off the Lati-twins.
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So that is my first attempt to create a team. At the end of this RMT I want to give a quick threat overview. The most difficult ones were:
Hey folks, Abrams here and bringing you my very first RMT on Smogon. I´ve been into competitive battling for some years and recently had a break for about one year. Thrown into a totally new metagame, I decided to build a team myself and I hope you guys can help me to improve it. At the moment this team has an ELO-rating of ~1650 but struggles to get past this rating.
The team is centered about two cores, mainly the well-known Scizor/Rotom-Wash combo as well as the Bisharp/Gardevoir-M/Heatran core. They work pretty well together, but they do have their weaks. So I present you my Dual Core Team:
The Mindgame
Bisharp (M) @ Life-Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
Bisharp is giving my opponents a headache everytime he enters the battlefield. He can remove the Lati-twins as well as those annoying Fairy-types. I usually spam Knock Offs in the early game to weaken the likes of Skarmory or Ferrothorn. I used to run Pursuit over Swords Dance, but I didn´t use it that much so I opted for a move to boost his attack to sky-high levels. For this reason, I simply went for max. attack and speed. Defiant is one of my new favorite abilities and helps a lot against one of the most common switch-ins: Landorus-T.
The Powerhouse
Gardevoir (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Will-O-Wisp
- Focus Blast
The mega on my team is just absurdly powerful. Anything that doesn´t resist its STAB-moves loses a big chunk of its health. The most common switch-ins Heatran and Ferrothorn can be 2HKOed by Focus Blast and a bit prediction. I used to run a spread of 16 HP / 252 SpA / 240 Spe with a modest nature, but this didn´t allow me to outspeed and smash Excadrill (which is a big threat to this team). Psyshock helps against all those Assault Vest users and works well against Venusaur. Hyper Voice destroys with STAB Pixilate 90 BP everything in its way and spamming it is a great way to soften up my opponent´s defense.
The Do-It-All-Mon
Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Spe
Bold Nature
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
Heatran is probably the most important mon on this team. It´s not only my best answer to stall, it also counters the likes of Aegislash and Talonflame, and it is also adept at taking all those Draco Meteors from Lati@s. When Tran dies and Talonflame is still alive, I´m usually in big trouble. I would like to split up its tasks so that I don´t lose games anymore just because I ran into a random Earthquake. Unfortunately, I always miss the burn when I really need the burn on something. But that´s not just my problem I guess ;D
The Damage Platform
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Roost
Latios is really a beast. Not only it forces my opponents Charizard-X out with its sheer presence, but it hits nearly every switch-in like a truck. It also provides some useful resistances against water and fighting and therefore stops Keldeo, which would otherwise rip through my team. Psyshock is great against Venusaur and Conkeldurr, as is Surf against Ttar (LO-Latios can 2HKO Ttars without SpD investment). With the spread I get the maximum power and minimum LO recoil per turn. And Roost is just a great option for free turns or Protects.
The Backbone
Rotom-Wash @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 216 SpD / 44 Spe
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
As the title says, Rotom is some kind of backbone for my team. When I don´t know what to do I just switch to Rotom. With its incredible Dual-STABs it can do serious damage as well as retaining momentum with Volt Switch. I ran the Pain Split-version earlier, but this way I had nothing to absorb status. So I switched to the Chesto-Resto-Rotom. It´s usually my lead and it does its job very well so far. The only problem is the one-time-use of Rest. Once used, I´m lacking a reliable recovery because I dont want to give my opponent a set-up opportunity. The speed investment is to outrun Adamant Azumarill and burn it before it can do serious damage to my team.
The Revengekiller
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Landorus-T serves as my revenge-killer and my best answer to Excadrill and Charizard-X as it is able to KO both of them with STAB Earthquake coming from an impressive 145-Base-Atk. It also helps me to create momentum with U-Turn and works quite well with Rotom-W. I prefer to use Rock Slide over Stone Edge because of the shaky accuracy (Rock Slide still gets the OHKOs on Talonflame and Pinsir-Mega). The filler move is Knock Off, mainly to hit Eviolite users unexpctedly or to finish off the Lati-twins.
----------------------------------
So that is my first attempt to create a team. At the end of this RMT I want to give a quick threat overview. The most difficult ones were:
- Talonflame: With Heatran gone, it can basically outspeed everything and hit me hard with its STABs. Is now handled by Heatran and Landorus-T.
- Excadrill: The Mold Breaker sets can seriously damage my team and take out at least 2 of my mons. Is now handled by Gardevoir and Landorus-T.
- Charizard-X: After a Dragon Dance, it´s the same problem as with Talonflame. I can´t burn it, I can´t outspeed it, I die. Is now handled by Landorus-T.
I think it´s a solid team, but I hope you guys can help me to improve its performance. Any constructive criticism is highly appreciated. Thank you for reading.
EDIT: Here some replays on PS:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-148107749
Great Battle, was a pretty close game in the end.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-154298005
Battle with some risky plays against a nice guy with his Medicham.
EDIT: Here some replays on PS:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-148107749
Great Battle, was a pretty close game in the end.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-154298005
Battle with some risky plays against a nice guy with his Medicham.
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