Full Pass like a Pro! (6th on PO)

[Xanderpitz]

~~~MY BATON PASS TEAM~~~​

*NOTE* So, I literally just copy-pasta'd this from Pokemon Online thread (and edited a tiny bit). I haven't been getting tons of feedback there so I wanted to see what people at Smogon had to say :3. Here's the link btw (if you want to read comments) http://pokemon-online.eu/forums/showthread.php?11474-6th-Place-Baton-Pass-is-NOT-Dead!

I hear a lot of people claiming that full Baton Pass teams are dead this generation, especially with the team preview and the nerf to Mean Look. Well, this is my team which has carried me to 6th on the ladder after the reset (11,257 people at that time). So, without further ado, here's my team:


PLANNING IT OUT

First off, I needed a receiver to pull off the sweep, and what better finisher then Espeon. With its amazing ability in Magic Bounce and access to Stored Power, it can OHKO most Jirachi after only 20 stat-ups at +2 Sp. Atk (it's usually behind a sub anyway, so parahax is less of a worry). Hidden Power Bug also provides coverage for Dark types immune to Stored Power and doesn't leave me completely vulnerable to Dark/Ghosts. Now I needed something that could start the chain off on the right foot.

Smeargle seemed like a great choice on any baton pass team. Being able to utilize Shell Smash, Quiver Dance, Coil, Ingrain, Magic Coat, and the coveted Spore, the options were nearly limitless. Slap a Focus Sash on it and it could easily take a hit and, with easy prediction, avoid priority users trying to KO him on the switch. I figured Ingrain would make a great choice to prevent any kind of phazing as well as provide bonus healing. With Smeargle setting the pace, now I needed to ensure my chain would outspeed and set up on opponents. Now what better choice then…

Ninjask!!! Speed Boost was a blessing for this ninja bug, allowing it to outspeed anything in the metagame and take on an attacking or passing role. I figured since Espeon is my dedicated seeper, there’s no need for Swords Dance so I went with Protect + Sub to ensure I can pass a higher speed to my switch-in. Now I needed a switch in that can take the hits aimed at Ninjask.

With access to Roar for phazing as well as Water Absorb/Hydration and Acid Armor, Vaporeon can tank the physical attacks aimed at Ninjask all day and boost its Defense to further increase its walling capabilities. Now that my defense would be boosted, I'd need a special wall to take hits and boost its Special Defense in the process. The best option for the job in my opinion was......

Mr. Mime!!! Though his physical defenses are beyond lackluster, his massive 120 Sp. Def stat allows him to shrug off even powerful special attacks and calm mind on the switch. He also has access to Taunt and Magic Coat to help stop opposing set-up or prankster abusers, respectively. The advantage Mr. Mime has over other Calm Mind passers is Soundproof, which not only blocks perish song (the bane to any Baton Pass team), but gives him immunity to Roar and Bug Buzz, 2 common attacks used in an attempt to dethrone the magical clown. Finally, I just needed a poke that would piece the whole thing together, providing a safe alternative to switch to if Vaporeon or Mr. Mime would not be suitable.

Mew did a wonderful job of setting up Barrier and Amnesia (depending on the opponent's pokemon) and quickly passing away to another pokemon to finish the job. Mew acted as my backup since Vaporeon and Mr. Mime could only boost 1 stat at a time.


FIXING THE HOLES

I battled many times with this team, but found certain pokemon either weren't necessary, overlapped weaknesses, or didn't fill in the appropriate gaps. One of these was Smeargle. Even with Ingrain, Spore, and Magic Coat, I just found that, more often than not, my other pokemon with Taunt and Magic Coat could stop phazing just as well and Spore was only a minimal amount of help overall. A nice replacement came to mind in the form of Medicham.

This beastly pokemon has access to Accupressure, boosting a stat by 2 stages every turn, meaning that even evasion and accuracy can be used for boosting Espeon's Stored Power, while also being VERY useful for avoiding would be ko's or crits. Not only that, but the possible attack boost, combined with Pure Power and Drain Punch, severely increases Medicham's longevity and hard counters Tyranitar, which can shrug off an unboosted Espeon's HP Bug. However, introducing another Psychic type to the team (and eliminating my only normal type) DID NOT help my ghost type weakness. Luckily, I found that with medicham's tanking ability, I was using Mew much less frequently, especially now that I basically had 2 sweepers.

Mawile, though practically useless on any normal team, is amazing on a full Baton Pass chain. With decent physical defenses, Intimidate, and Stockpile, Mawile can come in on powerful physical attacks, Stockpile, and still be able to take Special attacks on the switch. Another boon to using Mawile its access to Taunt, thus virtually covering every role Mew can, while having much better synergy with the rest of my team.

Finally, I had reached equilibrium and made a truly successful baton pass team. However, there are a few key threats which prevent me from taking the #1 spot (coincidentally they also use baton pass). They will be shown later, but for now here's the setlists...

THE TEAM LAID OUT

Espeon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
IVs: 2 Atk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind/Substitute
- Stored Power
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Baton Pass

With Ninjask as my lead, im practically guaranteed to get 1-3 speed boosts in, so speed has never been an issue on most of my sets. This set is pretty straightforward, stored power rapes practically anything not named Jirachi or Bronzong and HP Bug hits dark types (as well as Sableye and Spiritomb). Calm Mind is there in case I wasn't able to boost Sp. Atk with Mr. Mime or Medicham. Substitute can be used for extra protection against crits, but the only common crits that can regularly OHKO Espeon are CB Scizor Bullet Punch (96-113%) and Sucker Punch Toxicroak (98-116%). However, simply put, without Sp. Atk, Dark types laugh at this set, thus sometimes forcing me to rely on Medicham. 2 IVs in attack allow Espeon to take minimal damage from Sableye's Foul Play while still providing 70 BP HP Bug (since Signal Beam is illegal w/ DW ability).

Medicham (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pure Power
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Drain Punch
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Acupressure

Medicham....the epiphany of trollness. Though it only has 60/75/75 defenses, since it doesn't run speed, these can be increased to decent levels. The crux of this set is the combination of substitute and drain punch. With this, Medicham can act as a secondary sweeper after a few boosts to each of its defenses. Once it gets +2 from Acupressure, she boasts a tremendous 624 attack, and rips holes in anything taking neutral damage. For comparison, her Drain punch has the same power as 252Atk+ Guts-boosted Conkeldurr. Without Medicham, Espeon will have a very hard time dealing with Tyranitar as it can't 2HKO unless it has +4 Sp. Atk.

Ninjask (F) @ Mental Herb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 220 Def / 24 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Substitute
- X-Scissor
- Baton Pass

Without Ninjask, my team would have one hell of a time trying to build up its defenses. Thankfully, its typing resists the common mach punch and with the invested EVs, she'll always survive a CB Mamoswine Ice Shard after 1 turn of Hail/SS and Baton pass away (Protect T1, damage from weather, BP T2 w/ 1 hp remaining). 24 Speed EVs let her outspeed Scarf Base 115s after protect, and 248 HP EVs let her set up 4 subs. The rest is thrown into attack to beef up her X-Scissor, which helps when dealing with Sableye and Whimsicott.

Vaporeon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb/Hydration
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Roar
- Substitute/Aqua Ring
- Acid Armor
- Baton Pass

Vaporeon's flagship Baton Pass set in Gen 4 still reigns as the best this gen as well. The given EV's maximize bulk, and coincidentally provide a Leftovers number. With balanced defenses, Vaporeon can come in on mixed wallbreakers as well and still boost itself. Usually, the case is I send in Vaporeon or Mawile to set up on a physical attacker or Mr. Mime for a special one. I chose Water Absorb over Hydration since the boosted speed allows for quick substitutes, thus making it redundant. Plus, my team needs all the healing it can get. Roar is obviously to stop opposing phazers and set-up. Aqua Ring is useful if it is raining to provide extra healing for my teammates, but the risk of being critted or outsped by a switch-in is a major turn-off

Mr. Mime (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Magic Coat
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Calm Mind

With extremely high Sp. Def, Mime can set up on virtually any special attacker and block phazing/annoying with Magic Coat. Mr. Mime's crux is his amazing ability allows him to be not only viable as a chain member, but probably one of the most useful pokemon on my team. Since Politoed and Mismagius are the only 2 viable Perish Singers, 1 hardly every seen in standard play, the idea is to scout out the opponents set by judging their lead. It usually turns out in several ways:

Team Preview: Lead is not Politoed; 1st Turn: Lead with Politoed-->Assume they have Perish Song
Team Preview: Lead is Politoed; 1st Turn: Lead with Politoed-->Set-up first and wait for Perish song or obvious switch-in (i.e. Obviously switched in Politoed to use Perish Song)
Team Preview: No Politoed-->$$$$$$$$$$

Mawile (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 184 SDef / 52 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stockpile
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Taunt

Mawile's physical bulk after Intimidate essentially gives her a base 152 Defense stat, enough to survive many unboosted super-effective hits. For example, Mawile can come in on Terrakion, set up a Stockpile (outspeeds at +3) and easily survives: 252Atk -1 Terrakion (+Atk) Close Combat vs 252HP/20Def +1 Mawile (Neutral): 71% - 83% (216 - 254 HP). With access to Taunt, she further helps prevent phazing, taunting, and status. Stockpile can potentially be better then Mew since it boost both defenses at once, which can be very helpful if a scarfed Special attacker fires off a powerful move on Mawile's weaker Sp. Def.


So, now that we've seen the team, here's a few other options I had considered:


OTHER OPTIONS

Vaporeon-->Gorebyss
Though vaporeon is very bulky, Gorebyss can arguably take the physical attacks aimed for Vaporeon better due to its higher defense stat, it also has access to both barrier and amnesia for dual walling capability. It also can run aqua ring since it also has hydration, but as I stated before, faster switch-ins and crits are a major turn-off.

Medicham-->Togekiss
With the ability to run Nasty Plot and actually utilize it with Air Slash + Serene Grace. Togekiss can be a deadly sweeper as well as great set-up for Espeon, who abuses the Sp. Atk boost just as much. Often times, I do switch Medicham out for Togekiss, but Medicham's Fighting type STAB is too good to pass up on when it comes to dealing with Dark Types (a.k.a. Tyranitar).

Mr. Mime: Leftovers-->Ring Target + Trick
I was honestly pretty desperate here when it came to dealing with Sableye until this gimmick popped into my head. By tricking a Ring Target onto a Sableye on the switch, followed by Magic Coat, I can safely switch to Espeon, Calm Mind, and fire off a Stored Power on it with virtually no worries. The biggest question, though, would be how to manage against SS teams since Mime's health would rapidly diminish, especially since he has no subs.

Now, these are the pokemon that provide the biggest trouble to my team (Rated 1-10/10):


PROBLEMATIC POKEMON

Ninetales (8/10): The only really devastating set is the Nasty Plot set, as it can overpower Mr. Mime's Sp. Def and carries Solarbeam/Energy Ball to deal with Vaporeon, who gets 2HKOed by both. It can then move on to completely demolish the rest of my team. Other than that the Overheat/Power Swap set can be very annoying to deal with.

Volcarona (5/10): If they bring this thing in at the right time, it can spell trouble, even for Mr. Mime, since Fiery Dance still does a lot of damage. Eventually Volcarona outspeeds him and then the solid waste collides with the Aperture Science Circular Vacuum Transportation Device (if you know what I mean).

Politoed (6/10): Politoed is not extremely harmful in that it sweeps my team, but the fact that every time it comes in I have to be faster than it and be able to Taunt, switch to Mr. Mime safely, or Stored Power it to hell does not help my case. Otherwise, it most likely Perish Songs and I have to set up all over again. Also, a smart opponent would predict the switch to Mr. Mime and could easily 2HKO it before it has chance to set up.

Gyarados (4/10): The most problematic set is the Taunt/(Dragon Tail/Roar) one. It can easily screw my whole team over if I'm not at Mr. Mime or Espeon behind a Sub. After only 1 Dragon Dance, it outspeeds most of my pokemon at +3 and can severely damage them with a waterfall or phaze with Dragon Tail/Roar.

Haxorus (6/10): After 1 Dragon Dance, if I don't predict Outrage, switch to Mawile, and avoid crits, its GG. This thing can outspeed most of my pokes when they're at +4, easily OHKOes practically all of them, and often carries a Lum berry to keep its sweep going.

Swampert (5/10): The biggest problem with Swampert is its typing and physical attacker status. It often carries Roar, so Mr. Mime is the only option there, however its also a physical attacker which ca easily 2HKO Mr. Mime. Switching into Mawile with proper timing would help....if it wasn't weak to Earthquake, which still hurts like hell at -1. Even worse, I still have to use Taunt to prevent roar, at which I could be taken down in the process. Vaporeon is the only safe switch-in, but at that point, unless I'm faster, it can't do anything before having to switch to Mr. Mime or Espeon again.

Sableye (10/10): This thing is beyond annoying to deal with. Even with the Mental Herb on ninjask, I either have to switch to Espeon and get 3HKOed by Foul Play, or try to muscle my way through it with X-Scissor, which is a 3HKO at best to a 252 HP/4 Def set (and then it Recovers). Even if I try to switch to Mr. Mime and Magic Coat a Taunt, Mime still takes ~50% from Foul Play and Magic Coat could be easily predicted by good players.


So, there's the whole team! Thanks for reading my novel of a RMT. Hope you enjoyed it!!!

Importable:

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Mr. Mime (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Magic Coat
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Calm Mind

Vaporeon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Roar
- Substitute
- Acid Armor
- Baton Pass

Mawile (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 184 SDef / 52 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stockpile
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Taunt

Espeon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Baton Pass

Ninjask (F) @ Mental Herb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 220 Def / 24 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Substitute
- X-Scissor
- Baton Pass

Medicham (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pure Power
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Drain Punch
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Acupressure

 

[AntiAntiGuy]

Looks good, not much to say really.

Just watch out for Prankster Tornadus with Taunt. You should switch to Espeon if this happens. Other than that, looks alright!!!!!

 

[pokefan123456]

>Hey there. This is a pretty solid full pass team you got here. I'm a fan of bp myself but new tricks that render bp ineffective, forced me to play conservatively. >Anyway, i'd just like to bring to your notice that calm mind spiritomb could pose serious problems if it's the last poke or has taunt. Both your sweepers would fail against it. I suggest you run another physical sweeper that can deal with it while also troubling ninetales, volcarona, politoed and tyranitar. Bulk up bp floatzel would make a fine choice.