Other Metagames overpowered metal bug ~ a stabmons team

[Josh]

this team would be awful without cb scizor.

this song is beautiful and it brings tears to our eyes every time we listen to it. enjoy it while you read through this rmt!

Introduction​

Hi RMT, back to you with another god-tier team. I wanted a team built around Dragonite, since it's my favorite mon bar Dugtrio (we tried, it's really bad) and it seemed like it would be good. So my friend baconbagon and I decided to build around it! Gaining Flying-type STAB is really cool, as Flying is a great type offensively, and Dragonite's solid bulk and helpful ability make it harder to revenge kill than other setup sweepers. Hopefully you like the team, we've had a lot of success with it~

Teambuilding Process​

As noted above, the team began with the weird decision to build around Dragonite. Dragonite is a very capable sweeper, but it needs some things gone or chipped such as Rotom-W, Landorus-T, and Unaware Clefable. Gengar seemed like a good choice, as it generally has enough power to break down walls and also hits Fairy-types super effectively.

We now wanted a general physical attacker, and we were also extremely weak to Weavile. Mega Scizor fit the team perfectly. However, Josh wanted to use Choice Band Scizor and when he makes a bad decision you sort of have to go with it, so the team ended up with regular Scizor, an incredible wallbreaker.

We needed hazard removal to preserve Multiscale and prevent Gengar and Scizor from being worn down too quickly. More priority is always helpful, and all of my teams need a Fighting-type to hit Porygon2 and Chansey because those things are so, so, so fat. Rapid Spin Mega Lopunny was a great fit here.

Nasty Plot Thundurus was added for another special wallbreaker, as the team was still heavily bothered by Pokemon such as Landorus-T and Skarmory. We opted for Thunder Wave in the last slot, which generally opens up opposing teams to Gengar and Scizor more and also immobilises opposing Pokemon with some foolproof yellow magic. Finally, Aerodactyl joined the squad as a decently powerful physical attacker, Adamant Mega Lopunny check, and Stealth Rock setter. It also dents Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn nicely with Fire Fang.

In the end, the team was looking too weak to Scizor and Mega Lopunny, and a pivot would also be helpful for getting in the team safely. Offensive Rocky Helmet Landorus-T is a pretty weird set in STABmons, especially without Roost, but it fit the team well enough to become its sixth member over Aerodactyl.

The Team​

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed​

Dragonite, the super stoned dragon. A belly as big as his heart, with that beautiful permanent happy face. I wanted to build around Dragonite because its lack of strong Flying STAB has always held it back in standard play, plus I just love Dragonite. So we started the team with Dragonite! A Choice Band set is interesting, but we thought a Dragon Dance set would be more effective, due to how easy hazard control is in STABmons. This means we can keep Multiscale intact easily and give Dragonite more setup opportunities, and unlike most setup sweepers (that aren't Normal-types) Dragonite has access to a very strong Extreme Speed which makes it more difficult to revenge kill. Dragon Ascent is a very powerful and spammable STAB, and unlike Outrage doesn't leave you locked into a move which opposing Pokemon can be immune to. Earthquake and Fire Punch are the tossup coverage options, but overall we decided Earthquake was more important for Heatran and Mega Diancie, because Skarmory isn't that common right now, and the rest of the team can deal with it anyway.

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
​

Gengar is the first wallbreaker of the team. We picked it for its solid offensive synergy with Dragonite and its excellent power, as an unboosted Dragonite struggles to break through defensive teams. Toxic Spikes wasn't really necessary for the team: nothing really appreciates grounded Pokemon being worn down, as the biggest issues are Skarmory and Landorus-T anyway. Instead, the set is a simple Taunt + three attacks that's instantly recognisable to anyone who plays OU. Shadow Ball generally hits the bulky Ground-types of the metagame hard, 2HKOing tank Garchomp, defensive Landorus-T, physically defensive Gliscor, physically defensive Hippowdon, and Unaware Quagsire. The last one is especially notable, as Dragonite struggles with a healthy Quagsire. The other draw of using a three attacks set over Toxic Spikes is Sludge Wave, as its coverage is important for bulky Fairy-types. The extremely evil Unaware Clefable just gets OHKOed, while it's generally Gengar's strongest STAB when it needs to quickly wear down something like a Rotom-W or Mega Blastoise, which tend to annoy Dragonite. Finally, Focus Blast reliably misses against Rock- and Steel-types: in particular, it's great for missing Tyranitar before it gets an opportunity to break Dragonite's Multiscale with Sand Stream, and missing Ferrothorn until you hit and it gets taken down to +1 Earthquake range allows Dragonite to avoid impaling itself on Iron Barbs. Taunt makes Gengar the team's main stallbreaker: shutting down recovery, entry hazards, Chansey's Transform, and attempts to inflict status is seriously important when beating down defensive threats. Running Substitute instead is an option, as it allows Gengar to have an easier time versus Sucker Punch users such as Crawdaunt, Tyranitar, and Hoopa-U; however, Gengar is worn down very quickly. Gengar's Ghost typing is also pretty noticeable: an immunity to Chansey's Seismic Toss, Porygon-Z's and Meloetta's Boombursts, and Fake Out + Extreme Speed in general is really important, as the team's only Normal resist is the easily worn down Scizor. Just watch out for Mega Lopunny and Stoutland, the metagame's most common Scrappy users. The HP IVs hit a Life Orb number. Gengar has been somewhat underrated as of late, as its frailty and Mega Lopunny's popularity have been annoying for it. However, we feel like it's still a great Pokemon and a solid choice for the team.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 84 HP / 252 Atk / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Gear Grind
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
​

Scizor is somewhat broken in STABmons, primarily thanks to one move: Gear Grind. Thanks to Technician, Gear Grind turns into a 150 Base Power move before STAB and Choice Band boosts. That's slightly ridiculous. Such power has the potential to OHKO Steel resists, such as Excadrill. Even Heatran takes 20 - 40% (depending on its EV spread) from Gear Grind and it is a fairly bulky 4x resist, which is just stupid. So, Scizor is a primary choice for a wallbreaker in STABmons. U-turn is a great move to grab momentum while still being extremely strong, so we opted for that, but Pin Missile is also an option in that spot because it also hits ridiculously hard. Bullet Punch is obligatory priority, because this is STABmons and priority is everything bro. Scizor resists Ice Shard, Fake Out and Extreme Speed, so Bullet Punch generally goes first in a turn. Pursuit is handy, because generally trapping weakened Pokemon can be helpful, and if they don't switch Technician boosts the power of Pursuit so it's still reasonably strong. Superpower is also an option in that spot to lure in Heatran. 172 Speed is important for Scizor to outpace 0 Speed Rotom-H and Rotom-W and chip them with U-turn. Scizor is still decently bulky with low HP investment, and very few non-Fire-type moves will OHKO it. It also gives us a way to reliably revenge kill Terrakion and Mega Lopunny, which are big threats to the team.

Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Extreme Speed
- High Jump Kick
- Rapid Spin​

Mega Lopunny fills a number of important roles on the team. Firstly, it should be noted that Scrappy is an absolutely incredible ability, as it allows Mega Lopunny to revenge kill Ghost-types, avoid taking 50% from High Jump Kick every time the opponent switches one in, and also get past spinblockers when it needs to remove hazards. Fake Out + Extreme Speed are the first two moves on the set, and form the classic FakeSpeed combination that every STABmons team needs to prepare for. Fake Out was chosen over something like Swords Dance or Lovely Kiss because we felt the team needed a reliable revenge killer and was already capable of late-game cleaning. High Jump Kick is an important STAB move that KOes the evil gem monster thing itself, Mega Sableye. It also hits annoying fat Normal-types such as Porygon2 and Chansey, and generally has great coverage against Rock- and Steel-types that bother Dragonite. Just watch out for King's Shield, because apparently users enjoy randomly slapping it on something like Skarmory when it's a total waste of a moveslot. Rapid Spin is an essential utility move that removes hazards, bolstering the team's longevity. Thundurus and Dragonite are both weak to Stealth Rock, and the latter hates it a lot because it breaks Multiscale. Mega Lopunny has the offensive presence and Speed to force switches and remove hazards, and it can sometimes nab a KO with Rapid Spin which is basically the best feeling ever. An Adamant nature was chosen to achieve feats such as 2HKOing Quagsire and Skarmory after Stealth Rock and OHKO Ferrothorn and Chansey. However, Jolly is still an option if you would like to outspeed Tornadus-T and Aerodactyl, as well as revenge kill opposing Mega Lopunny more reliably.

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Oblivion Wing
- Thunder Wave
​

The team was now looking really weak to physical walls in general, as Gengar could not handle them by itself. Enter Nasty Plot + Thunder Wave Thundurus, a powerful wallbreaker that also brings utility and is therefore an incredible asset versus many teams. Thunder Wave Thundurus is a little underused in STABmons in favour of Nasty Plot + Taunt, but I really enjoy the Speed control. Scizor and Gengar have a much easier time ripping apart teams with their powerful attacks when foes have been slowed down, and sometimes Thundurus can just stop opponents from moving at all with some yellow magic. Thunder Wave is also this team's default response to assorted setup sweepers, such as Shift Gear Mega Scizor and Dragon Dance Gyarados, as the team's priority cannot hit these Pokemon very hard and there are no Choice Scarf users. Nasty Plot lets Thundurus actually wallbreak, destroying the same bulky Ground-types that Gengar is meant to, while also dealing with Calm Mind Mega Slowbro, which is really annoying and difficult to break. However, you can still run Taunt to deal with annoying bulky Pokemon. The standard Life Orb and Timid nature were used.

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
​

Landorus-T ties this team together by providing Stealth Rock support and U-turn support to get the team's wallbreakers in safely. I chose Precipice Blades + Stone Edge over Precipice Blades + Dragon Ascent because Thundurus and Zapdos are generally annoying, and being able to always OHKO the occasional Talonflame is nice. Landorus-T is running a Rocky Helmet to generally rack up passive damage on (Mega) Scizor and Mega Lopunny. 252 Atk EVs and an Adamant nature make Landorus-T extremely strong with base 145 Attack and a 120 Base Power STAB move, allowing it to OHKO frailer Pokemon such as Mega Lopunny and uninvested Scizor after Stealth Rock. U-turn gains momentum in general while dealing heavy damage to (or KOing) Grass-types such as Celebi and Psychic-types such as Latios and Hoopa-U. Landorus-T is generally the team's first response to Mega Lopunny, as Fake Out and Extreme Speed just rack up Rocky Helmet damage, Fighting STAB does very little, and Swords Dance still loses. However, Lovely Kiss and Ice Punch are troublesome, and necessitate revenge killing with Scizor. Landorus-T is running a fairly bulky EV spread which outspeeds neutral-natured max Speed base 80s. I view significant HP investment as pretty important on this set, as it has to pivot a lot. Running Roost over U-turn is also a great option, as it makes gives Landorus-T far more longevity and reliability.

​

Conclusion​

Thanks for reading! You've just seen a team that I've been pretty happy with, as building it and playing with it have both been enjoyable. However, you've probably noticed this isn't quite a whole RMT yet, because all those typical cringeworthy bits haven't appeared yet. Don't worry, they're right here!

replays

vs SPL LEGEND rozes
vs MAMP
vs Technetium43
vs Scyther NO Swiping
vs The Reptile
vs Eevee Gayneral
vs unfixable
vs unfixable again
vs Spl4sh
vs random alt
vs another random alt

importable

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Taunt

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 84 HP / 252 Atk / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Gear Grind
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit

Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Extreme Speed
- High Jump Kick
- Rapid Spin

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Oblivion Wing
- Thunder Wave

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

Josh's Shoutouts

Vicky the Shitlord unfixable SpaceBass rozes Reverb raikoo rice pudding Omega-Xis14 Team Pokepals Nedor Meteordash Kableye Gunner Rohan Electrolyte Dream Eater Gengar bludz BlackBloodz Betathunder Articuno I Arikado AM Ace Peef Rimgar Feliburn Austin Zangooser all falls down jeran Dell -gizmo- Mars Lowell Alkov Blitzamirin Posho PoMMan Twix m00ns thelinearcurve Rhythms Whis ajernejcic Wanka Sonired Uselesscrab Piccolo Daimao Joim Hugendugen Seventy Ninjacalibur Sparkychild Scyther NO Swiping Silver Aurum Pottie Scippen. Peli Irraquated InfernapeTropius11 Leafshield Kl4ng antemortem Ransei Raven GoodMorningEspeon GonxKillua Clone. Crestfall DKFirelord Eevee General Jin Of The Gale Snowy. SpartanMalice Starmei Snaquaza Yagura Killintime Lord Death Man Megazard Hawkie ellipse Level 51 HunterStorm Hashtag SocialSocialSocial Dawgie SamVGC Trickster thecrystalonix Skitty MAMP xJoelituh ih8ih8sn0w tehy annmarie Nani Man Awu Quite Quiet Shaneghoul Flying Kebab imas234 Kingslayer2779 Lcass4919 Rekeri iDitto Lord Tentacruel anto DrReuniclus Haruno Ice Tea Illusio Dundies galbia gasquakee Memoric Private_PenQuin Prosaic Winry Snobalt Rumplestiltskin

If I didn't tag you, sorry, I tried keeping this short.

bacon shoutouts

'sorry i tried keeping this short'
+n1

i don't associate with a lot of people and also have no idea who to tag, so don't feel offended if you aren't tagged. just get mad at me on ps instead
Joshz you wrote this rmt with me. thanks for pming me intelligent things like 'baconfagon' and 'you are fat' at night to cheer me up!
Rhythms bestfriend. also someone sent me "rhythms is better than everyone at anything ever especially unfix at stabmons"
Zangooser statistically, as part of the ag community you're absolutely awful at pokemon. but hey you used a mushroom
Betathunder baeta (heart)
GonxKillua DOES ROCK NO RESIST ROCK?
Eevee General and unfixable stabmons is a great metagame! i'm putting you two together because i know you both won't like it
jeran x Mars Lowell +jeran
Dream Eater Gengar go away you're really weird
ellipse come back :(((
Snaquaza don't give up :(((
SpartanMalice i thought a neil patrick harris quote would be fitting here but i couldn't be bothered to look one up
Uselesscrab ability exchange one day
Piccolo Daimao hip icc
Peef Rimgar actually pete is a great nickname
MAMP :J
I_Suck_At_Pokermon nyan kat E4 Flint +jj
PocketTrigger rof kek
Hector Hard Mode ai ya ai ya ni shi yi ge ben dan
Scyther NO Swiping Kl4ng Lcass4919 BetaHousing The Reptile Illusio friendly om people!
imas234 ihateyourpancreas best of friends for sure
xJownage Vicky the Shitlord your copypastas never fail to amuse, unless they're bad
InfernapeTropius11 Deathly ♛The King Kingslayer2779 bunch of nerds that deserve to be lumped together

And that's it! Once again, we hope you guys have enjoyed reading the team and some of you will take the time to rate it. Thanks for reading~

 

[baconbagon]

posting here so i can actually be recognised as a co-author and harvest some likes

hopefully one day i'll be able to look at this post and smogon will have justified alignment, gengar will be able to learn nasty plot, and people will have stopped ending sentences with tildes

enjoy the rmt!

 

[EV]

Cool team guys. Just a few things I noticed.

It kinda sucks that your "star" of the team is your only decent Keldeo switch-in, as Keldeo can just spam Water Spout/Origin Pulse at will as nothing besides Dragonite resists Water. If Multiscale is broken, your only course of action is to hit the Keldeo with an Extreme Speed so Water Spout is weakened because a Modest Specs Spout will 2HKO--sometimes even with Multiscale intact. You have Mega Lop to revenge fortunately, but the Keldeo player will get in their Landorus-T (or bulky Gyara or Mega Scizor or Mega Bro) and Keldeo has another shot to blow something up later. Otherwise you're relying on Thundurus to Twave it, and hopefully the smart Keldeo player will see Prankster Twave coming and get in their Magnezone/Zapdos/Ground-type. (They'll know you know it's Specs based on the damage it does to Dragonite so the question of Thundurus outspeeding naturally is moot.)

Similarly, your only good Zard Y switch-in is Dragonite. Luckily the chances of a Timid Zard Y 2HKOing through Multiscale is minuscule but your Dragonite is severely crippled afterward if they try to. Like Keldeo you can revenge later with Mega Lop or Thundurus but who wants to be down their star so quickly?

My first choice was to swap out Gengar for Latios to maintain your offensive presence, but that stacks too many weaknesses. The next best option is to drop Gengar for

Slowking! It checks both Keldeo and Zard Y and still removes physical barriers for Dragonite (Chomp, Landorus-T, Hippowdon, Ferrothorn). Set:

Slowking @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 88 SpA / 172 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Fire Blast
- Psystrike
- Mirror Coat / Ice Beam

Now I know you have a thing for CB Scizor because it hits really, really hard and priority Bullet Punch is pretty nice to have around. But consider the similarities with Terrakion: they both resist FakeSpeed, they both carry priority, and they both hit hard on the physical spectrum. Running Terrakion over Scizor also means Heatran never wants to switch in against your team which is nice because it's everywhere plus Terrakion can take out Kyurem-B more reliably which otherwise gives Scizor a hard time with mixed sets being common. You also keep a nice Weavile check, and you still get a revenge on Lopunny, and you can run Rocks, freeing up a few options elsewhere for hazards and hazard removal. You also don't have to worry too much about losing both your Clefable counters because it's really not that common right now and both Thundurus and Landorus-T put a lot of pressure on it. Set:

Terrakion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Stealth Rock / Swords Dance

If you opt for Stealth Rock on Terrakion, you can rearrange a few things. You can give Landorus-T some big old juicy Flying STAB or, since you lack Knock Off support, throw that on there. Or you can even give it Defog instead, which allows you to change Rapid Spin on Lopunny to Lovely Kiss or Ice Punch. Lovely Kiss carries the bonus of bypassing King's Shield, which you guys apparently keep running into.

Summary of changes:
Gengar -> Slowking
Scizor -> Terrakion
Stealth Rock on Landorus-T -> Dragon Ascent/Knock Off/Defog*
*Rapid Spin on Mega Lopunny -> Lovely Kiss/Ice Punch

Let me know how it goes!

 

[dusk raimon]

RIP no shoutout. This seems like a solid team and I don't really have much to say eeveE didn't, but GRATS on team showcase guys.

 

[skies]

please do not tag me with Eevee General ever again.

 

[baconbagon]

Summary of changes:
Gengar -> Slowking

This is a pretty good idea, as it offers nice defensive synergy and lets us beat opposing Ground-types more easily. If we do make this change, the lack of Speed and a Taunt user leaves us weaker to offensive and stall respectively, so we'd probably end up running something like Thunder Wave + Taunt Thundurus, which is a little suboptimal but still achieves everything necessary. Personally I wouldn't bother with the bulkier spread, as I find taking Choice Scarf Porygon-Z's Boombursts a fairly uncommon situation in comparison to Silk Scarf variants, so I'll just try out a simple max HP / max Special Attack spread. Overall, I like this change but without the ability to limit setup with Taunt, I'll be running a more reliable response to setup sweepers and FakeSpeed users in Roost Landorus-T.

The idea of Slowking has also opened me up to the thought of generally running Water-types in that slot. Taunt or SubCM variants of Keldeo seem nice to decimate stall while making quick work of Landorus-T and Hippowdon, and they keep up the hyper offensive nature of the team really well.

Scizor -> Terrakion

So Terrakion also resists Normal and offers Fighting STAB, but it's weak to Fairy and Water. I'm not sure about this one, as Rock Polish Mega Diancie now has an opportunity to just win (if it has Diamond Storm or Play Rough for Slowking) and Terrakion also can't live an Azumarill's Aqua Jet the way that Scizor can. I'm also not a big fan of Stealth Rock Terrakion, as it's annoyed by Mega Sableye, Mega Diancie, Defog Landorus-T, and Defog Latios and Latias, common sources of hazard control. Instead, I'd run a revenge killer in Choice Scarf Terrakion or a strong wallbreaker in Choice Band Terrakion (still pales in comparison to Scizor though). Life Orb Terrakion also gets worn down quickly, something that we need to avoid if it's going to take multiple FakeSpeeds throughout a match. Overall, I prefer simply running Superpower on Scizor.

Stealth Rock on Landorus-T -> Dragon Ascent/Knock Off/Defog*
*Rapid Spin on Mega Lopunny -> Lovely Kiss/Ice Punch

And without Stealth Rock Terrakion, these changes aren't necessary.

Let me know how it goes!

Thanks for the rate, it's hugely appreciated!