Since the tournament is almost upon us anyone know a good move set for raikou? I've been trying to come up with something, but it's a bit hard.
-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
-
Congrats to the winners of the 2023 Smog Awards!
[DONE] JOHTO CLASSIC - Post your results!
- Thread starter DragonWhale
- Start date
This set has given me lots of problems.
Calm Mind
Substitute
Thunderbolt
Shadow Ball/ Roar/ Protect
Left Overs to help keep Sub up.
Another that bugs me all the time
Volt Switch
Thunderbolt
Hidden Power Grass/Ice
Shadow Ball/Aura Sphere
Thanks for answering! Your answer came right as I thought I was set on banded Azu... now I'm really torn! I do agree giving the band to Entei makes more sense, he loses much value without it. I've been laddering in the last 2 days with AV Entei and CB Azu and I often found myself missing that band on Entei. Yet, I've had my best results by far since the switch, cracking the top 50, it's quite puzzling. I'll give myself a few more hours to make a choice before I lock my battle box tonight, I'm leaning towards Belly Drum again now. Thanks for the input!
Try this:
Entei @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 20 HP / 232 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Protect
- Toxic
- Sacred Fire
That's the Pressure Stall set on the strategy dex; it's a Battle Spot Singles set. It's been really effective for a fair few people, and handles Porygon2 / Chansey pretty well. Considering its two primary counters, Heatran and Lum Chomp, are banned here in Johto it makes the set significantly more dangerous.
Just keep it away from setup + Rest mons like Suicune.
edit: You also beat Nidoking if it even dreams about switching into Toxic.
Similar to the Kanto Classic a bunch of us have been working on an article for most of the pokemon in the competition that's finally out!
http://www.smogon.com/articles/johto-classic
http://www.smogon.com/articles/johto-classic
It seems like a great set, but going for it would really change Entei's role on my team (especially with another Sub+Lefties user on my team), which would require reworking most of the team. I don't think I'm ready to do that so close to the tournament, especially since I like what I have now. Thanks for the idea though!
Guys, I want to make Ninetales work as something other than a Sun-setter for my Chlorophyll Venusaur. My current set is:
Timid @ Heat Rock
Drought
252 SpAt/252 Speed/4 SpDef
Overheat
Solarbeam
Psyshock
Will-O-Wisp
Any edits I should make? I want to switch Psyshock out but I don't know for what (Nasty Plot comes to mind, though I would have to make sure to pull it off on a predicted switch as it isn't the best at taking hits).
Timid @ Heat Rock
Drought
252 SpAt/252 Speed/4 SpDef
Overheat
Solarbeam
Psyshock
Will-O-Wisp
Any edits I should make? I want to switch Psyshock out but I don't know for what (Nasty Plot comes to mind, though I would have to make sure to pull it off on a predicted switch as it isn't the best at taking hits).
I made a sun team with Ninetales, and I decided to go for Fire Blast in that 3rd moveslot. In my opinion, Overheat creates too much of a handicap to be the go-to fire attack, and Flamethrower is sadly quite weak. Also, I have no idea why, but both on Showdown and in the actual Kanto tournament, people kept thinking Zapdos was a great answer to Ninetales, I couldn't count how many times it was a matchup (don't know if you're having a similar experience). Fire Blast takes care of almost every popular variant of Zapdos, which you usually outspeed as well. I tried Nasty Plot when I firstly started testing my team (instead of Overheat, though), and found there is almost never a good opportunity for it to work.
That's crazy; I've found many Zapdos matchups against my Ninetales as well. I never considered having 2 fire attacks on her since that would make me easier to wall, but I suppose in a 3-3 scenario I would not expect Ninetales to be around for too long anyway. I'll try it out on Showdown for a bit before the tournament starts tonight and see how it goes.
BTW a tip for those of you who are new to battle spot competitions: You don't HAVE to lock your Battle Box the day of sign ups! I tend to lock my battle box on Saturday, to wait and see what people are seeing in the metagame. Plus, it helps if you say, want to read that Johto Classic article we wrote, and need some time to absorb it all!
Oh, alright. No problem :P
Still, AV is fine imo, just don't be dumb and park it in front of excessively powerful, super effective STAB moves like Nidoking.
Eisenherz is correct: Fire Blast is very much a good idea as a spammable Fire STAB.
Base power is so high that you typically don't need much coverage, NP is far too hard to set and Ninetales should never be sweeping. Just spam Fire Blast and WoW. Ninetales is a bit limited on usefulness; Hypnosis and possibly Disable are the only things it has beyond Fire moves and Solarbeam.
Ninetails doesn't have a whole lot of options, but two interesting ones I noticed looking at its movepool are PP stalling with Spite, and possibly having Grudge for when it's about to die and you want to empty another moves PP. Such a set would have to have sub and Lefties, and a Fire STAB in the last slot. Idk if this would be effective at all, but it'd definitely be interesting.
The other thing is Power Swap and Overheat. This is kinda situational, but how it'd work is you use Overheat, hopefully killing something, then Swapping attack changes with the next mon, hopefully a special attacker so it would actually dislike the -2 SpA. Ofc, that's a lot that has to go right, but it'd be really cool if it worked lol.
Looks like Roar is a good option to take out Substitute users, and Ursaring is the only one on my Whitney team who can learn it. Should I use it instead of Close Combat/Crunch? Or teach Trick to Girafarig along with a Choice Scarf instead of Trick Room.
Miltank @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Thick Fat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe
Careful Nature
- Milk Drink
- Zen Headbutt
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
It wouldn’t be a Whitney’s themed team without Miltank! I gave her Careful nature to take on Gengar better, which is 2HKO’d by Zen Headbutt even without Attack investment. Same goes for Scizor with Fire Punch and Raikou with Earthquake, and it can also hit Entei and Tyranitar. Don’t underestimate her just because she isn’t gonna Rollout here. lol
Clefable (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Moonlight
- Calm Mind
- Flamethrower
Whitney’s secondary signature Pokémon, and currently the best member of the team. It has no trouble against setup users, so it’s almost always on my chose of 3. Flamethrower is there for Steel-types like Scizor and it has actually worked, and it can also hit Gengar for neutral damage.
Tauros @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Return
- Fire Blast
- Zen Headbutt
- Earthquake
Milky’s husbando. Wish it was a little more fast than it actually is, but it still hits hard. Again, a Fire attack is appreciated to OHKO Scizor, while Zen headbutt threatens Gengar and Machamp.
Girafarig (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sap Sipper
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Trick Room
- Energy Ball
Since this team is generally slow against fast ‘mons like Raikou, which can use Toxic + Protect + Substitute + Protect + Substitute and so on, making impossible to outspeed them, I taught Trick Room to Girafarig for cases like this. Energy Ball OHKO’s physically defensive Quagsire and threatens not Sap Sipper Azumarill, Piloswine or Suicune. This makes Girafarig a more common consideration for my battles as well as something almost no one would expect. Sap Sipper ability allows it to prevent Grass-type moves from making effect, except things like Synthesis.
Ursaring (M) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Quick Feet
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Protect
Ursaring outspeeds non-Sash Alakazam and Gengar when it gets poisoned, threatening them with Crunch. It’s a bit tricky and doesn’t mind switches at all.
Blissey @ Shed Shell
Ability: Natural Cure
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Seismic Toss
- Flamethrower
- Toxic
Blissey is here since I like her design more than Chansey’s, as well as being another Johto original. I couldn’t give it Leftovers, so I went with Shed Shell unless I give Clefable something else. It could work to flee from Arena Trap or Mean Looks.
Last edited:
No. Ursaring is already not that bulky, and on a timer with Toxic.
Also, why does your Girafarig have Trick Room? You don't have much that's slow, and Girafarig has to sacrifice itself to set tr. A mixed nature and EQ to use possible Sap Sipper boosts would be better.
Lastly it's important to kno how EVs work at level 50. EVs should not be divisible by 8 at level 50 if you have an odd IV. So Clef should max HP and have 4 SpD-8 is a waste if the IV is perfect, which it should be.
Well, considering that there are fast common 'mons like Gengar, Raikou, Scarf Tyranitar and so on with a positive nature for Speed, except Tauros and Ursaring, I think my team would be outsped most of the time. As I said there, even Girafarig's Speed is just average, so if it can set TR it would have a chance to attack first to things that would usually 2HKO it due to being Sash. I don't think Grass-type moves are common outside of Venusaur, but who knows. Opponent would not expect that most of the time and it could do some damage even to more 'mons that it usually could not, like Raikou or Tyranitar in Sand Stream (Hyper Voice actually does more damage to Entei than Earthquake at +0)
As for the EVs, yeah, I should fix that since my team isn't still locked. Clefable was actually at level 100 and I hadn't touch it at all.
Last edited:
There is stuff faster than lots of the things on your team, but judging by what I see discussed more and the viability rankings on the first page, I think more stuff is slower or close to the same Spe as at least most boring your team. Azumarill, Dragonite, Scizor, Quagsire, Suicune, Piloswine, etc. You help yourself against some stuff sure, but not by enough to justify making things even worse against the slower stuff.
EQ might not be the best option, especially since you hit Magneton with everything else(lots of fire, and some EQs.) But since this comp isn't just pentagon, Sucker Punch could be nice on giraffe. It's helpful as a finishing move against stuff even without a boost, and has lots of surprise value on giraffe.
EDIT: why are you a grass type starter, with the name of another grass type starter, when you also seem to have an obsession with fire type moves? Not that it's bad to have fire moves-I think most every team should have at least one fire attack(I.e. Not WoW)-but I never run four fire attacks lol. Barely ever even have two. Seems kinda overkill TBH.
It could be nice, sure. Unfortunately I don't have any of that kind that I could bring from past games with good IVs unless someone trades me one, yet I'm not desperate. I just finished breeding the mixed one with Earthquake, hope it does a decent job at least, though I could not blame it for being actually worse than most of the roster here.
PD: I haven't had time to change my avatar, and Sceptile, and since I made the account, that avatar was already there. lol I'll take a little time to change that. It's not that I have an obsession with Fire-type moves, just that I think they are decent coverage for what's to come. Maybe I'll be missing some Rock, Electric or Ice attack, but for what I see that will be common...
The maximum number is 15.
So I just finished my run at 11-5. It legitimately should be 15-0... I lost four times to incredibly stupid hax.
First loss: Missed 5 Flash Cannons and 5 CB Play Roughs vs Minimize Fable.
Second loss: My +6 Suicune lost a speed tie vs another +6 Suicune and failed to Sub before it attacked. It burnt me with its last Scald PP.
Third loss: My Suicune got paralyzed + fully parad by Discharge when I was using +1 Ice Beam vs a 50% Zapdos.
Fourth loss: My CB Granbull hit itself twice vs a Machamp that decided to stay in, then hit itself in confusion when he switched in Dragonite.
I feel good in that I don't think I misplayed any during the 15 battles, but feel like absolute crap that I lost four battles to RNG.
First 15 battles down! 12W 3L 80% win ratio. I feel pretty good about it! One of the defeats was a bit rage inducing, as I lost only because I pushed Outrage instead of DD with Dragonite at a crucial moment. I really don't know how I managed it because when Outrage came up in the battle I about shit myself, I was so sure I used DD lol. Oh well, it was a great battle and great day of battles already! BTW, Heracross getting shit done lol. 3 of my matches he swept the entire team. Alakazam is seeming somehow more dangerous than he was on PS.
I haven't started yet due to the okc vs warriors game but from what I'm reading, I may need to reconsider not using an unaware mon. I replaced my Clefable with a Gengar but after reading about minimize issues, I guess I'll need to change that line up. What moveset has been the most common for clefable anyways?
11W, 4 L one the first day; I'm pretty happy with that! Also guys, Piloswine is AMAZING. This guy tore through a team of Nidoking, Heracross and Dragonite by himself. And it's just a Bulky Physical Attacker! Granted, I predicted well that fight but still, I am completely happy with him.
Also, thanks to Eisenherz and Titan for advising me to switch out Psyshock for Fire Blast and putting Roar on my Piloswine. The latter saved me from a Minimize/Cosmic Power Fable, while Ninetales set the sun up for my Venusaur to sleep my opponent's Dragonite switch in. In the end, I was able to beat the Fable (who was still asleep and had about 65% health) with a FB followed by Overheat.
All in all, I am happy with my team. I gotta say; winning with top tiered mons is cool and all, but you get such a deeper feeling of happiness when you win with your favorites. Looking forward to tomorrow!
Also, thanks to Eisenherz and Titan for advising me to switch out Psyshock for Fire Blast and putting Roar on my Piloswine. The latter saved me from a Minimize/Cosmic Power Fable, while Ninetales set the sun up for my Venusaur to sleep my opponent's Dragonite switch in. In the end, I was able to beat the Fable (who was still asleep and had about 65% health) with a FB followed by Overheat.
All in all, I am happy with my team. I gotta say; winning with top tiered mons is cool and all, but you get such a deeper feeling of happiness when you win with your favorites. Looking forward to tomorrow!
Well I went through without replacing Gengar with Clefable and did relatively well. I decided to replace t-bolt on Gengar with Taunt which made a massive difference and I actually won matches because of it, with no Dragonite surviving the combination of Taunt & Destiny Bond. My first match went to shit with my opponent getting back to back crits I believe, I started out 0-1 but ended the night 13-2. Venusaur has been a life saver and I hope other members of the community left a spot for him on their team as well, best of luck everyone!
Last edited:
Misplayed (in foresight) once so far, but the Japanese teams are getting better and better as I play. I also got sleep powder haxed twice in one match. Got a few matches left but I can do some later when some more Europeans and Americans come on line. Facing a Japanese player is really nerve-racking. Surprised how many Japanese players have switched in Tyranitar to confront Magneton, to be KOd before they can attack. (2HKOs)