Fuck your Luck! [OU]

[dachickens]

THIS RMT WAS NECRO'D. I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF IT WAS DELETED, THANK YOU.

Recently, I was in a small tournament on Shoddy. I had a tight first round battle, but ultimately it seemed like I'd win in the end. I had a full health DD Gyarados and my opponent had a Choiced Jirachi. He Zen Headbutted, I EQ'd, and I had the upper hand. Jirachi had around 25% health and my Gyarados could survive 2 more hits. On the next turn, Jirachi both flinched and CH'd my Gyarados, causing it to die from Sandstorm at the end of the turn. Stunned by this loss, I decided to make a team based on luck.

AT A GLANCE:

CORE 1: The paraflinchers

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 80 HP/252 Atk/176 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Body Slam
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
- Trick

Jirachi is known for its ridiculous ability to paralyze, flinch, and pummel, and this lead abuses this to the max. It serves as both an anti-lead and the first paraflincher on this team.

• BODY SLAM is the paralysis move of choice on this team. It deals good damage to many foes, and can inflict crippling paralysis upon potential sweepers. With Serene Grace to boost its paralysis rate to a jaw-dropping 60%, it is inferior to few moves. One of those moves, of course, is:
  
• IRON HEAD, which is the stronger move of the two attacking moves, since it benefits from STAB. It actually stops the foe from attacking more often than paralysis. I have taken down many a foe with just this move alone, including a full health Suicune. It also does well against common leads, 2HKOing Azelf and Aerodactyl and denying them the opportunity to get rocks up 60% of the time.
  
• STEALTH ROCK is a standard lead move that punishes foes who try to switch out of the paraflinch madness. If I really want to, setting this up is not a problem as CScarf allows Jirachi to outrun most non-Scarfed leads.
• TRICK allows me to cripple slower opposing leads as well as walls like Blissey later in the game. Incidentally, CScarf also protects me from the Tricks of opposing anti-leads.

U-Turn was omitted from this set as Magnezone is easily countered by Infernape.

COUNTERING ITS COUNTERS:

• Leading Heatran and Infernape can't do much damage to Gyarados, allowing it to get a free Sub or DD.
• Magnezone is taken down quickly by either of Infernape's STABs.
  

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP/6 Def/252 Spd
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Body Slam
- Air Slash
- Aura Sphere
- Roost

There are only three Pokemon that are blessed with the amazing ability of Serene Grace. The first is Jirachi, who I've already covered. Blissey is the second, but it's not well suited for paraflinching. The third, though, is very much suited for the job. Togekiss is a beast when it comes to paraflinching.

• BODY SLAM is the paralyzing attack. Although Togekiss doesn't exactly have a high Attack score, Body Slam is good for dealing damage while simultaneously paralyzing the foe more than half the time. Thunder Wave is used interchangably with Body Slam.
  
• AIR SLASH is definitely one of Togekiss's best moves. It has a whopping 60% chance to flinch after accounting for Serene Grace, and the opponent is unable to attack 70% of the time if you count in paralysis as well. Slowly, Togekiss can use Air Slash to whittle down even formidable defensive foes. Its usefulness doesn't end there. Togekiss has a decent SpA score, and Air Slash deals a good amount of damage to the likes of Machamp and Infernape. Air Slash is a great move for hurting both offensive and defensive foes.
• AURA SPHERE helps increase Togekiss's type coverage. It is a great attack in general, as it never fails to hit. It takes a good chunk of health out of those pesky Steel-types, and it's great for finishing off weakened foes who don't take much damage from Air Slash.
• ROOST increases Togekiss's longevity and allows it to paraflinch another day. It heals SR damage while simultaneously taking away its Ice, Electric, and Rock weaknesses temporarily. This works great in conjunction with paralysis, as it dooms opponents who intend to counter Togekiss with those types of attacks.

COUNTERING ITS COUNTERS:

• Zapdos: Rhyperior stones those that don't have HP Grass.
• Rotoms: Ironically, I often use Kiss to counter them when they try to Shadow Ball my Rotom. My Rotom walls the rest of its attacks and threatens them with Shadow Ball and/or paralysis of Discharge. From past experience, Discharge+Shadow Ball KO's.

Rotom-s @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/216 Spd/40 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Discharge
- Confuse Ray
- Air Slash
- Shadow Ball

We go on to my third paraflincher. While he does not have the benefit of Serene Grace, he does boast Confuse Ray. Between Confusion+Air Slash+Paralysis, the opponent once again has only a measly 26% chance (0.75*0.7*0.5) to attack. Rotom also hits a little bit harder than the first two paraflinchers.

• DISCHARGE paralyzes 30% of the time and gives Rotom a great STAB attacking option. With a Modest nature, Rotom is not simply an attacking wall. I often spam it around after a switchin, since the true purpose of this is not to deal damage, but to cripple opposing sweepers and setuppers. Nevertheless, it doesn't hurt to deal decent damage along the way.
• CONFUSE RAY is also spammed around a lot. Though it doesn't last as long as paralysis, Confusion causes my opponents to hurt themselves 50% of the time. It gives Rotom a chance to paralyze them with Discharge and damage them with Discharge or Shadow Ball. It's also good since no type is immune to it.
• AIR SLASH is what seperates Rotom-S from its other forms. Often considered the weakest of the form-unique techniques, it nevertheless has some advantages. It is the third part of the Para-confuse-flinch combo, and annoys the opponent greatly.
• SHADOW BALL and Discharge form a formidable offensive duo. The occasional Special Defense drops are also welcome and contribute to the haxxy nature of this team.

COUNTERING ITS COUNTERS:

• Blissey gets pwned by either Infernape's Close Combat or Jirachi's Trick. If it doesn't have Thunderbolt or Seismic Toss, Gyarados can set up on it.
• Tyranitar gets paraflinched. Although Infernape can't switch into it, Close Combat and U-Turn do decent damage.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Bounce
- Waterfall

SubDDGyarados is a monster to behold. Bounce and Waterfall actually contribute to the paraflinch theme, although this was not the original plan tbh. By far, Gyarados is the most adept at keeping out its counters.

• SUBSTITUTE gives Gyarados a shield against status. After a DD, it also serves as a Metagross Explosion blocker. It gives Gyarados free turns to DD and replenish HP with Leftovers.
• STONE EDGE replaces Substitute and gives me a good option to hit opposing fliers with.
  
• DRAGON DANCE boosts Gyarados respectable Attack and Speed to unprecedented levels. It also goes hand-in-hand with Substitute; Sub allows more DD's while DD allows Sub to more effectively block status effects. It also allows Bounce to more effectively hurt Gyarados' counters.
• BOUNCE gives Gyarados a nice STAB move. It OHKO's Starmie after a DD and deals super-effective damage on Celebi. It also dodges attacks as well. The paralysis chance is nice and allows for more DD's and Subs.

This log excerpt sums up how I feel about Bounce:

Gyarados used Bounce!
Gyarados bounced up!
Metagross used Explosion!
Metagross's attack missed

• WATERFALL is the flinch part of Gyarados' paraflinch combo. Sporting almost as much power as Bounce, it finishes off weakened foes easily. It also provides a more reliable attack, as Bounce is easily stalled out.

COUNTERING ITS COUNTERS:

• Zapdos: see above
• Starmie and Celebi are pwned by Bounce.
• Electric attacks and Pokemon in general are redirected to Gyarados
  

CORE 2: Offense

Infernape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 24 Atk/232 Spd/252 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

This is my revenge killer, who helps counter some Pokemon that would otherwise hurt this team. It also provides quick offense to my team and usually nets 2 kills a game.

• CLOSE COMBAT is an Ape standard. With perfect accuracy and super base power, it dents almost anything that does not resist it, notably Blissey and Tyranitar.
• FIRE BLAST is less reliable than CC, but still very, very strong. It hits Steels that CC doesn't, as well as many others.
• HP ICE isn't used very much, but is still very necessary on this team. It helps me get revenge kills on Gliscor, Adamant ScarfFlygon, and DD'd Salamence.
• U-TURN is a nice scouting technique I spam all over the place. It helps that the Ape isn't SR-weak either.

COUNTERING ITS COUNTERS:

• Starmie and Latias: I just spam U-turn left and right and try to get out while hitting them for some damage. If not, I just switch out.
• Primarily, Ape's strength is also it's bane. The Scarf limits its versatility, but with smart play and prediction I can work around it.

Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 132 HP/192 Atk/168 Spd/16 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

This is the star of the show. Rhyperior takes advantage of the paralyzed foes to negate its horrible Speed. It also forms a nice tandem with Gyarados. Since Sandstorm is so popular, Rhyperior also gains a SpD boost quite often.

• SWORDS DANCE is one of the two setup moves this Rhyperior packs. Although it already has high Attack, it's not quite enough at times to shatter dedicated walls, and so this is here to jack its Attack to nosebleed heights.
• SUBSTITUTE is a status blocker (just like on Gyarados). In Sandstorm it is hard to break its Subs, and even without it can withstand the assaults of Seismic Toss. It also gives Rhyperior free turns to SD up and gives it insurance in case Stone Edge misses.
  
• EARTHQUAKE is the more reliable of the two STAB moves. It is self-explanatory, and absolutely destroys almost anything in the metagame after a SD.
• STONE EDGE is the other STAB, which has less accuracy but is still quite awesome. The CH rate is great, as it adds to the luck-based nature of this team.

COUNTERING ITS COUNTERS:

• Water and Grass attacks really, really hurt this beast. However, Gyarados takes Water attacks like a champ, while Togekiss withstands Grass attacks.

So, that's it for now. I might update with a threat list tomorrow but it's late here. Rate/hate/steal!

Changes that I have tested:

Rotom T-Wave > Discharge DECLINED
Lanturn > Rotom INTERCHANGEABLE
Gyarados Stone Edge > Sub IMPLEMENTED
Togekiss T-Wave > Body Slam INTERCHANGEABLE
Infernape Stone Edge > HP Ice DECLINED; I need HP Ice for Gliscor and Scarfed Flygon

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TEAM BUILDING PROCESS:

Every hax team needs to have the notorious Jirachi on it to succeed. Jirachi also makes a great lead. It was immediately placed on my team.

Then I needed something to help cover Jirachi's weakness to Fire and Ground, two unfortunately common moves used by leads. Bouncing Gyarados fit right into the scheme of things, as it was good against both types and could use the opportunity to get a free DD or Bounce. It also fit into the paraflinch scheme.

Now I needed more hax abusers. Togekiss is equally adept at this job as Jirachi, so after a little bit of testing it made the team. Rotom-S also got on because of its rare Paraflinchfusion combo.

Though hax leans more on the stall side of Pokemon, every team needs to have some offense. That was when ScarfApe, one of my favorite offensive Pokemon, came to mind. It serves as a revenge killer and creates a powerful offensive combo with Gyarados.

Lastly, I wanted a slow powerhouse to take care of crippled foes. At first I had Marowak, but it was too slow and frail, so I changed it to Rhyperior. And that's my team!

​

 

[ungulateman]

Why does Rhyperior have SpA EVs?

Other than that, it's quite a good looking team.

 

[Rusty Turtle]

Nice team concept.

As ungulateman said, there is absolutely no point in Rhyperior with SpA EVs. Perhaps you meant SpD?

On Rotom-S, I suggest using Thunder Wave over Discharge. While it's nice to have another STAB attack, 100% paralysis is like hooba hooba woot-yay. But if it works better, then go for it.

Apart from that, you have an excellently well written and presented RMT, I wish you the best of luck with your team. There is no way I could play your team without ragequitting.

In fact, I think I might play around with this team for fun...I used to run a Rotom-S on my balanced teams for the lulz.

 

[MetaNite]

Interesting team. The only problem with the concept is that even with Serene Grace, Body Slam isn't a very reliable way to paralyze things. Discharge and Bounce are even worse, and since Rhyperior seems fairly dependent on paralyzed opponents, I think you can replace Body Slam with Thunder Wave on Jirachi or Togekiss. Most Ground-type Pokemon (bar Dugtrio and Gliscor) are really slow anyway, such as Hippowdon and Swampert. Body Slam was really only useful when Garchomp was still present since it was such as huge threat.

If you don't mind having a slight Dugtrio weakness, then I suggest Lanturn over Rotom-S.

Lanturn @ Leftovers
EVs: 40 HP / 216 Def / 252 SpD
Nature: Bold / Calm
~ Discharge / Thunderbolt
~ Surf / Thunder Wave
~ Ice Beam
~ Confuse Ray

This is essentially your Rotom with arguably better typing. Since you already have Gyarados to handle most Fighting-types, you can use Lanturn for countering SpecsJolteon. (Those with HP Grass can really do a number to this team, with only Infernape able to kill it without taking a heap of damage.) I believe it was Bologo who first realized the greatness of this set. Similarly to Vaporeon, Lanturn's huge HP allows it to take hits reasonably well on both sides of the attacking spectrum. If you want a Water and Electric attack you can use Discharge, but if you want a more reliable way to paralyze things then you can use Thunder Wave.

Lanturn also helps against a large Life Orb Starmie weakness. Hydro Pump creams Jirachi, Rhyperior, Infernape, and at least 2HKOes Rotom. Thunderbolt nails Gyara, while 2HKOing Togekiss. Infernape can only U-turn against it, and you can't even paralyze it to keep it from being a threat. Lanturn resists all of its moves, assuming it has Recover over Psychic or Grass Knot. Neither of which should 2HKO anyway.

Gyarados without Stone Edge leaves your team a bit weak to DDMence, as you'll have to sacrifice something to bring Infernape into the fray (or you could use Rhyperior, but then you lose your main sweeper). The only Pokemon I can see using status on you would be Celebi (who you'd Bounce anyway) and Rotom-A (who you'd lose to anyway unless you get some hax). Because of this, it should be safe to use Stone Edge. Most Metagross seem to be leading, and you'll probably Trick it into Stealth Rock so it won't have a chance to Explode.

Good luck dachickens!

 

[dachickens]

Why does Rhyperior have SpA EVs?

Other than that, it's quite a good looking team.

Nice team concept.

As ungulateman said, there is absolutely no point in Rhyperior with SpA EVs. Perhaps you meant SpD?

Thank you for pointing that out to me; it is indeed supposed to be SpD.

On Rotom-S, I suggest using Thunder Wave over Discharge. While it's nice to have another STAB attack, 100% paralysis is like hooba hooba woot-yay. But if it works better, then go for it.

I use Rotom as sorta half-sweeper/half-paraflincher, so Ithink I need Discharge on there. However, I think I can probably do w/o Body Slam on Togekiss and/or Jirachi (as stated by MetaNite below :P)

Apart from that, you have an excellently well written and presented RMT, I wish you the best of luck with your team. There is no way I could play your team without ragequitting.

In fact, I think I might play around with this team for fun...I used to run a Rotom-S on my balanced teams for the lulz.

lol, thanks, and gl if you decide to play around with it.

Interesting team. The only problem with the concept is that even with Serene Grace, Body Slam isn't a very reliable way to paralyze things. Discharge and Bounce are even worse, and since Rhyperior seems fairly dependent on paralyzed opponents, I think you can replace Body Slam with Thunder Wave on Jirachi or Togekiss. Most Ground-type Pokemon (bar Dugtrio and Gliscor) are really slow anyway, such as Hippowdon and Swampert. Body Slam was really only useful when Garchomp was still present since it was such as huge threat.

Thank you for pointing this out. I think I will try T-Wave on Kiss, since Body Slam does pathetic damage anyways.

If you don't mind having a slight Dugtrio weakness, then I suggest Lanturn over Rotom-S.

Lanturn @ Leftovers
EVs: 40 HP / 216 Def / 252 SpD
Nature: Bold / Calm
~ Discharge / Thunderbolt
~ Surf / Thunder Wave
~ Ice Beam
~ Confuse Ray

This is essentially your Rotom with arguably better typing. Since you already have Gyarados to handle most Fighting-types, you can use Lanturn for countering SpecsJolteon. (Those with HP Grass can really do a number to this team, with only Infernape able to kill it without taking a heap of damage.) I believe it was Bologo who first realized the greatness of this set. Similarly to Vaporeon, Lanturn's huge HP allows it to take hits reasonably well on both sides of the attacking spectrum. If you want a Water and Electric attack you can use Discharge, but if you want a more reliable way to paralyze things then you can use Thunder Wave.

Lanturn also helps against a large Life Orb Starmie weakness. Hydro Pump creams Jirachi, Rhyperior, Infernape, and at least 2HKOes Rotom. Thunderbolt nails Gyara, while 2HKOing Togekiss. Infernape can only U-turn against it, and you can't even paralyze it to keep it from being a threat. Lanturn resists all of its moves, assuming it has Recover over Psychic or Grass Knot. Neither of which should 2HKO anyway.

I will try this out; it does seem quite similar to Rotom. I like the fact that it's more tankish as well, since Rotom often fell due to not recovering fast enough before getting KO'd.

Gyarados without Stone Edge leaves your team a bit weak to DDMence, as you'll have to sacrifice something to bring Infernape into the fray (or you could use Rhyperior, but then you lose your main sweeper). The only Pokemon I can see using status on you would be Celebi (who you'd Bounce anyway) and Rotom-A (who you'd lose to anyway unless you get some hax). Because of this, it should be safe to use Stone Edge. Most Metagross seem to be leading, and you'll probably Trick it into Stealth Rock so it won't have a chance to Explode.

Good luck dachickens!

I will try this too, thank you for the comments!

 

[haunter]

Nice team concept.

Indeed this is the worst team concept ever! Facing a team like this usually means that you'll swear at your opponent during all the battle...

That being said, I have to say that this is a very well built team, it seems excellent at doing what it's supposed to do: haxing your opponent to death.

Now, the team seems quite covered against the most used OU threats, and everything can be, at least, revenge killed. Needless to say that you rely mainly on preventing your opponent from attacking at all, so if you don't get lucky enough, then you're going to have problems.

Regarding body slam, I'd keep it on both Togekiss and Jirachi: some of the few pokemons which can pose a real threat to this team, notably Jolteon and Gliscor, benefit from, or are immune to thunder wave, so a 60% chance to paralyze them through body slam is largely acceptable. Gliscor is probably the only pokemon which may stop Rhyperior and a life orb Jolteon with hidden power [grass] may be only revenge killed by Infernape, while instead scoring 1-2hkos on every member of your team.

Other than that, the only threats that I can see depend on the combination of more than one pokemon. For example, a CB Tyranitar paired with a life orb Gyrados may give you problems because Rotom is your only safe switch into Gyarados and Gyarados can't be revenge killed by Inferanpe - assuming that the said TTar pursuits Rotom on the obvious switch out. For this reason, I'd suggest you to try stone edge over hidden power [ice] on Ape, running max Atk and a naughty nature, and moving the remainig EVs to SpA. Stone edge still allows you to revenge kill Salamence, but also covers Gyarados.

The Lanturn suggested by Metanite may help against LO Starmie, which, indeed, is another potential threat - though, honestly, it can come in comfortably only on Jirachi - but it will be ohko'd by a +1 life orb'd earthquake form Gyarados, while also giving Celebi the chance to come in easily, and considering that Celebi usually carries thunder wave, I don't know if it's a good deal. Your team, obviously, hates paralysis.

Well, since this team is based mainly upon luck, I really wish you good luck! You'll need it!

 

[dachickens]

Indeed this is the worst team concept ever! Facing a team like this usually means that you'll swear at your opponent during all the battle...

lol

That being said, I have to say that this is a very well built team, it seems excellent at doing what it's supposed to do: haxing your opponent to death.

Now, the team seems quite covered against the most used OU threats, and everything can be, at least, revenge killed. Needless to say that you rely mainly on preventing your opponent from attacking at all, so if you don't get lucky enough, then you're going to have problems.

Regarding body slam, I'd keep it on both Togekiss and Jirachi: some of the few pokemons which can pose a real threat to this team, notably Jolteon and Gliscor, benefit from, or are immune to thunder wave, so a 60% chance to paralyze them through body slam is largely acceptable.

I'm currently in the process of testing both moves out, so I'll come to a decision in a day or two.

Gliscor is probably the only pokemon which may stop Rhyperior and a life orb Jolteon with hidden power [grass] may be only revenge killed by Infernape, while instead scoring 1-2hkos on every member of your team.

Other than that, the only threats that I can see depend on the combination of more than one pokemon. For example, a CB Tyranitar paired with a life orb Gyrados may give you problems because Rotom is your only safe switch into Gyarados and Gyarados can't be revenge killed by Inferanpe - assuming that the said TTar pursuits Rotom on the obvious switch out. For this reason, I'd suggest you to try stone edge over hidden power [ice] on Ape, running max Atk and a naughty nature, and moving the remainig EVs to SpA. Stone edge still allows you to revenge kill Salamence, but also covers Gyarados.

I'll try Stone Edge; however HP Ice is slightly important to take down the aforementioned Gliscor as well. Nevertheless, Gyarados does give me problems at times...

The Lanturn suggested by Metanite may help against LO Starmie, which, indeed, is another potential threat - though, honestly, it can come in comfortably only on Jirachi - but it will be ohko'd by a +1 life orb'd earthquake form Gyarados, while also giving Celebi the chance to come in easily, and considering that Celebi usually carries thunder wave, I don't know if it's a good deal. Your team, obviously, hates paralysis.

Well, since this team is based mainly upon luck, I really wish you good luck! You'll need it!

Fair point on the Celebi; I'll keep that in mind.


Thank you for those detailed comments!

 

[dachickens]

I've added my team building process, as well as the changes I accepted and declined.

Also this is a 24 hour bump ^_^

 

[dachickens]

One last bump, if someone doesn't comment on this in the next 24 hours this thread will die.

 

[Famine]

nice teeam, i really like the Sub gyarados. I'm actually gonna try that on my team now, i have the same gyarados but Taunt instead of Sub haha..

 

[WrongLane]

0.o'
This team is wicked and very well defended.

Based on experience, sweeping Rhyperiors never work in today's metagame. With all the Steel types running around with priority moves... no amount of praying to the paralysis gods could pull it off.

This may sound farfetched, but Sub Seed Jumpluff has proven more helpful than molasses sweepers on gimmick teams. Jumpluff can sleep and leech away your team's biggest threats while shuffling the paralysis around with every switch-in.

Jumpluff @ Leftovers
Jolly
188 Def / 68 SpD / 252 Spe
-Substitute
-Leech Seed
-Sleep Powder
-Bounce/Stun Spore

Bounce offers Leech Seed time to really kick in while Stun Spore cripples on command. Don't get me wrong, Rhyperior is amazing say on Trickstorm teams. But predict right and you can have their pokemon running circles as you laugh all the way to the bank. Isn't that what annoying teams do?

Hope I helped.

 

[koolio]

i would run Fire punch on Togekiss over Trick and Lefties over Scarf, after bodyslam everything is going to be slower than you anyways and firepunch gives your paraflinchers some good steel type coverage

 

[KL leon901]

darn it,if i even where to fight you i would probaly stay with no hair after the battle,given the stress i would fell,just jirachi is already a pain,imginate a based around luck,those are the times that i am gadly of having a lucario and dragonite in my team,because no one need praflinch in the butt,nice team aniway,i am going to call the cops hax departament right away.

 

[Blue Kirby]

Closed at the request of the author.