This meta needs a revival. It deserves a revival. Since it was OMotM I've had like four battles. That's not good enough.
I don't know how to do this but maybe if I post a couple of sets you people will get the motivation back. Gotta try something. They're obviously not perfect so try to beat them with better ones, harass them, discuss them - just show signs of LIFE!
Alright, this team helped me to end up at #1 when Haxmons was OMotM. Towards the end I felt quite unbeatable, in the last 30 battles or so I lost once or twice. Never posted sets before so please excuse me if I'm doing something wrong. But here we go:
Kabutops @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Naive Nature
- Ancient Power
- Aqua Jet
- Scald
- Waterfall
Straightforward shit. Everybody who has played haxmons ought to know about this guy. Wait for the oppurtunity to boost (which is easy due to Battle Armor and the constant sacrificing of team mates, everything hits superhard you know, why switch out) and just wreck. Usually one boost is enough to outpace, two always is. Waterfall is the main attack as it's mega ultra terra strong and provides flinches. Scald thaws and burns and STABS but is really only used against when you get frozen. Aqua Jet is mandatory to avoid fast flinchers and because priority is amazing.
I prefer this spread as speed and bulk feels superior to power as it increases switch in oppurtunities and Waterfall flinches anyway. But the EVs are not written in stone. Also Ice Beam could replace Scald, but I like to be able to thaw myself more than to freeze others (There are more obvious freezers and Lum Berries can screw you over). A Lum Berry instead of the leftovers is also a possiblity. But the Leftovers bulk is really nice in boost wars against other Kabutops and Lapras. Lapras btw, is a potential replacement for Kabutops as they do essentially the same thing (or you could run both), but personally I prefer Kabutops. Idk now why really, BECAUSE I HAVEN'T REALLY BATTLED IN A WHILE, Lapras is good too.
Kyurem-B @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 176 HP / 72 Atk / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Ice Beam
- Iron Head
- Fusion Bolt
The before mentioned Kyurem-B is the obvious answer to the top tier threats Kabutops and Lapras. It always outspeeds them after a boost and it doesn't really mind the SE Ancient Powers as they don't even 2HKO without boosts. And if they try to stay in and KO - ZAP - dead from Teravolt Fusion Bolt. The other moves are just there really, it's job is to eliminate the Battle/Shell Armor pests. BUT - Ice Beam is nice for freezing switch ins, Iron Head makes it a possible late game sweeper and Dragon Claw hits hard early game. Outrage is an interesting alternative here, man it hits hard. I run it on my team now but haven't gotten the chance to try it out. It should make him a bit more versatile. The EV spread is designed to get as much bulk as possible without standing the chance to miss out on the OHKO from Fusion Bolt, but it's quite arbitrary tbh.
Lucario @ Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SAtk
Naive Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Extremespeed
- Ice Punch
- Vacuum Wave
I don't really have anything to say about how Lucario works in the meta. The last dozen of battles I've had I've tried out a couple of other team setups which Lucario hasn't been a part of. All I know is that it's really good, but not a game changer as the two mentioned above. It mostly revenges with it's priorities (Bullet Punch = STAB, Extremespeed > +1 priority users it faces, Vacuum Wave = x4 effective on stuff) and freezes with Ice Punch. Lum Berry is the perfect item as it makes it an easy in-switcher with the Inner Focus combo. Come to think of it I guess that's Lucarios main selling point. It's a good poke to switch in as it's never a winning condition and has good moves to use when in battle. I ran SpA and Dark Pulse to flinch earlier, but this set was better in every way. For some reason.
Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Tailwind
My love. A good lead as the fast U-turn lets it switch out if the opposing poke seems scary. Otherwise it just revenges. Brave Bird hits really hard. Period. Flare Blitz can come in handy when priority isn't needed as it burns and hits steels. Tailwind is mostly filler but if you're gonna die anyways and Brave Bird doesn't KO - why not? Being able to outpace random scarfers is always nice as they can really mess you up. The Item is up to personal preference. I kinda recently fought a Scarfed Talon (Snaquazas I think?). That was unexpected and quite good, especially against my own Talonflame.
Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SAtk
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Punch
- Ominous Wind
- Sucker Punch
Gengars main selling point is it's typing. Ghost type makes it an amazing answer to Dragonite. How sweet it is to be able to able to switch in on Extremespeed. But it has more than that. Omnious Wind makes it lightning fast and let's it flinch with Dark Pulse. I ran a special set before, with Dazzling Gleam to actually also kill Dragonite. It was ok. But physical with Ice Punch is way better. As priority is power Sucker Punch is the forth move of choice. You don't want to boost and then just be prioritied dead. The Focus Sash tells the same tale. Anywho - with Gengar in the line up Dragonite is seldom a problem at all.
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SAtk
Naive Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Defog
- Iron Head
- Silver Wind
Scizor is great. It's main job is to provide Defog for Talon if that's needed, but a +1 Bullet Punch hits hard. Really fkin hard. It's quite fast (like 377 Speed or something) after a Silver Wind too, so it performs the classical Haxmons flinching role with Iron Head really well too. The Silver Wind is usually not that hard to get up during the game either, due to Scizors great typing and threatening Bullet Punch.
All in all a pretty standard team, the overrated Dragonite and Lapras aside. I ran a scarfed Ecxadrill until the very end though, if that gets me any novelty points. It had Iron Head, EQ, Rapid Spin (that's the main reason I used it, mah Talon don't like rocks) and Stealth Rock (for other Talon). The obvious difficulty with running scarf, which it needs, and Rapid Spin/SR, which I needed, was the reason I dropped it for Scizor. But it worked well, I liked the set. It had utility and sometimes swept surprised foes.
Phew alright. That was exhausting. As the sets are old news I'll post a couple of fresher ideas later, just gotta rest a bit.
So. Signs of Life. Plz.