As stated in the title, this is my first RMT and I have a love/hate relationship with hazards. This team aims to set up hazards early and then utilize a nifty combination of rapid spin blocker, defog abuser and a solid voltturn core. This team has proven to be very successful thus far, (20-3 with the three losses being down to a 1v1) but I have a few concerns/ would like some suggestions. Again, this is my first RMT so if any of you could critic my post itself (not just the content) that would be sweet. So, we begin...
Skarmory
Nickname: Hypocrisy
Item: Custap
Ability: Sturdy
Evs: 252 speed, 252 attack, 4 HP Jolly
Moves: Iron Head, Stealth Rock, Spikes, Taunt
First things first, ya need a hazard setter and this is the guy to go to. Custap skarm seemed to be a lost set at the beginning of X and Y but he seems to have made a reappearance and he's just the mon for this team. I normally lead with skarm unless I see an opposing lead I don't like (I'm looking at you Mega sableye). Other than that slight flaw, Skarm performs brilliantly. Obviously, his main goal is to set up sr and spikes. However, what I've come to find the most useful is that, with the invested speed, he can taunt many common sr leads such as chomptank, lando-t, and the occasional mew. Iron head provides a surprisingly strong option to weaken fairies and hit aerodactly.
Gengar
Nickname: Satan's Nephew
Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 252 speed, 252 spec att, 4 HP Timid
Moves: Taunt, Destiny bond, shadow ball, sludge wave
Next up is this evil little fucker. He's a mon who can be difficult to use sometimes and occasionally a liability, but man if you play him right, a rage quit will surely ensue. Gengar is the main fairy check for my team considering skarm is a suicide(kinda) lead. He also serves as a stall breaker and can punch holes in select opposing teams. The reason why I went sash instead of the conventional life orb is because I knew he would be checking starmie quite a bit and, even if starmie predicts the switch and hits me with a psyshock, it still did its job of keeping hazards in play. Taunt is to prevent setup sweepers from dismantling my team and destiny bond is a gimmicky way of putting down a major threat. Shadow ball and sludge wave are stabs. Fairly simple. If anyone can argue why I should use life orb instead, be my guest but I havent been in many situations where I felt like I needed one.
Bisharp
Nickname: Deathstroke
Item: Assault Vest
Ability: Defiant
Evs: 220 Attack 92 speed 196 Hp Adamant
Moves: Pursuit, Sucker Punch, Iron Head, Knock off
Assault vest bisharp is a force to be reckoned with. Not quite as good as AV Tornados T but still. It's main job is to switch into defog users if necessary and then knock out as many mons as possible. He also acts as a reliable pursuit trapper being able to take hits from his targets like the lati twins and easily KO them. The evs are so bisharp avoids the 2HKO from latios's draco meteor. Sucker punch is a handy priority move so that I can pick off weaker faster mons. Iron head is for the fairys and combletes the dual stab and knock off is for knocking off stuff.
Starmie
Nickname: MYNAMESNOTRICK
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
Evs: 252 Speed 252 Spec Att 4 HP Timid
Moves: Ice beam, Psyshock, Hydro Pump, Rapid spin
So, I knew I would need an answer to fire types in order to help bisharp out and some sort of a wall breaker that had some decent speed. Starmie was the answer. Honestly, the rapid spin support is nice but hasn't been necessary. This team puts enough offensive pressure on teams to not have to worry about hazards that much. Ice beam is for dragons and grass types, psyshock is for keldeo and poison types, hydro pump is standard stab and rapid spin is to get rid of hazards. Truthfully, since I don't necessarily need rapid spin, I could go with a different mon in this spot. I was thinking sylveon maybe soley to wallbreak and make my mega sableye problem more manageable.
Manectric
Nickname: Gohan
Item: Manectite
Ability: Lightning rod
Evs: 252 speed 252 spec attack Timid
Moves: Tbolt, volt switch, overheat, hp ice
This is the volt to my turn and what a mon it is. Wasn't a huge fan of manectric mega when it came out, but the thing provides unprecedented offensive momentum and pressure. Manectrics main job is stated above. Keep the momentum in my favor. If I can force the opposing team to make switches with the hazards up, the battle is over in 20 turns or less. Tbolt is obvious stab, volt switch is for momentum, overheat is to smack scizor, celebi after hazards, ferrothorn etc. and hp ice is to revenge kill weakened chomps and lando t's,
Landorus T
Nickname: Pussy....Cat
Item: choice scarf
Ability: intimidate
Evs: 252 speed, 252 attack and 4 HP Jolly
Moves: U turn, eq, stone edge, and knock off
Scarfed lando t completes my team and my voltturn core. Scarfed lando t provides fantastic offensive coverage coupled with great revenge killing ability. He is my talonflame check amongst many others. I opted for the scarf over defensive or sd because of one thing: momentum. Even though all his sets are viable, I didn't need him slowing the team down. U turn is for momentum, eq is for stab coverage, stone edge is for talon flame (might change it to rockslide) and knock off is for knock off.
Like I stated earlier, this team has worked well. However, there are some threats that I would like to see if they can be adressed.
Threats:
Mega Sableye- pisses of skarm and can't be stopped by any other mon. I have gotten past it twice through chip damage but his still a pain in muh ass.
Mega altaria- This is mainly for the dd. I can sacrifice gengar to stop it but I'd rather save gengar for other mons.
Stall teams - if gengar is down, forget about it
defog users- regardless of bisharp, they will always be a pain
Im sure theres more, so just comment if you think of one and how I can counter it.
Potential changes:
Starmie to Sylveon: for mega sableye
Voltturn core change: not sure of a good combo, but its an option
Heres some battles:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-2436832411
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-243683241
So, there you have it. Hope it was readable/ met the requirements for RMT thread posting. 1000 thanks in advance compadres.
Signing off.
Skarmory
Nickname: Hypocrisy
Item: Custap
Ability: Sturdy
Evs: 252 speed, 252 attack, 4 HP Jolly
Moves: Iron Head, Stealth Rock, Spikes, Taunt
First things first, ya need a hazard setter and this is the guy to go to. Custap skarm seemed to be a lost set at the beginning of X and Y but he seems to have made a reappearance and he's just the mon for this team. I normally lead with skarm unless I see an opposing lead I don't like (I'm looking at you Mega sableye). Other than that slight flaw, Skarm performs brilliantly. Obviously, his main goal is to set up sr and spikes. However, what I've come to find the most useful is that, with the invested speed, he can taunt many common sr leads such as chomptank, lando-t, and the occasional mew. Iron head provides a surprisingly strong option to weaken fairies and hit aerodactly.
Gengar
Nickname: Satan's Nephew
Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 252 speed, 252 spec att, 4 HP Timid
Moves: Taunt, Destiny bond, shadow ball, sludge wave
Next up is this evil little fucker. He's a mon who can be difficult to use sometimes and occasionally a liability, but man if you play him right, a rage quit will surely ensue. Gengar is the main fairy check for my team considering skarm is a suicide(kinda) lead. He also serves as a stall breaker and can punch holes in select opposing teams. The reason why I went sash instead of the conventional life orb is because I knew he would be checking starmie quite a bit and, even if starmie predicts the switch and hits me with a psyshock, it still did its job of keeping hazards in play. Taunt is to prevent setup sweepers from dismantling my team and destiny bond is a gimmicky way of putting down a major threat. Shadow ball and sludge wave are stabs. Fairly simple. If anyone can argue why I should use life orb instead, be my guest but I havent been in many situations where I felt like I needed one.
Bisharp
Nickname: Deathstroke
Item: Assault Vest
Ability: Defiant
Evs: 220 Attack 92 speed 196 Hp Adamant
Moves: Pursuit, Sucker Punch, Iron Head, Knock off
Assault vest bisharp is a force to be reckoned with. Not quite as good as AV Tornados T but still. It's main job is to switch into defog users if necessary and then knock out as many mons as possible. He also acts as a reliable pursuit trapper being able to take hits from his targets like the lati twins and easily KO them. The evs are so bisharp avoids the 2HKO from latios's draco meteor. Sucker punch is a handy priority move so that I can pick off weaker faster mons. Iron head is for the fairys and combletes the dual stab and knock off is for knocking off stuff.
Starmie
Nickname: MYNAMESNOTRICK
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
Evs: 252 Speed 252 Spec Att 4 HP Timid
Moves: Ice beam, Psyshock, Hydro Pump, Rapid spin
So, I knew I would need an answer to fire types in order to help bisharp out and some sort of a wall breaker that had some decent speed. Starmie was the answer. Honestly, the rapid spin support is nice but hasn't been necessary. This team puts enough offensive pressure on teams to not have to worry about hazards that much. Ice beam is for dragons and grass types, psyshock is for keldeo and poison types, hydro pump is standard stab and rapid spin is to get rid of hazards. Truthfully, since I don't necessarily need rapid spin, I could go with a different mon in this spot. I was thinking sylveon maybe soley to wallbreak and make my mega sableye problem more manageable.
Manectric
Nickname: Gohan
Item: Manectite
Ability: Lightning rod
Evs: 252 speed 252 spec attack Timid
Moves: Tbolt, volt switch, overheat, hp ice
This is the volt to my turn and what a mon it is. Wasn't a huge fan of manectric mega when it came out, but the thing provides unprecedented offensive momentum and pressure. Manectrics main job is stated above. Keep the momentum in my favor. If I can force the opposing team to make switches with the hazards up, the battle is over in 20 turns or less. Tbolt is obvious stab, volt switch is for momentum, overheat is to smack scizor, celebi after hazards, ferrothorn etc. and hp ice is to revenge kill weakened chomps and lando t's,
Landorus T
Nickname: Pussy....Cat
Item: choice scarf
Ability: intimidate
Evs: 252 speed, 252 attack and 4 HP Jolly
Moves: U turn, eq, stone edge, and knock off
Scarfed lando t completes my team and my voltturn core. Scarfed lando t provides fantastic offensive coverage coupled with great revenge killing ability. He is my talonflame check amongst many others. I opted for the scarf over defensive or sd because of one thing: momentum. Even though all his sets are viable, I didn't need him slowing the team down. U turn is for momentum, eq is for stab coverage, stone edge is for talon flame (might change it to rockslide) and knock off is for knock off.
Like I stated earlier, this team has worked well. However, there are some threats that I would like to see if they can be adressed.
Threats:
Mega Sableye- pisses of skarm and can't be stopped by any other mon. I have gotten past it twice through chip damage but his still a pain in muh ass.
Mega altaria- This is mainly for the dd. I can sacrifice gengar to stop it but I'd rather save gengar for other mons.
Stall teams - if gengar is down, forget about it
defog users- regardless of bisharp, they will always be a pain
Im sure theres more, so just comment if you think of one and how I can counter it.
Potential changes:
Starmie to Sylveon: for mega sableye
Voltturn core change: not sure of a good combo, but its an option
Heres some battles:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-2436832411
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-243683241
So, there you have it. Hope it was readable/ met the requirements for RMT thread posting. 1000 thanks in advance compadres.
Signing off.
