Pyramid King SoT, Frontier Team take 1

[SoT]

Team Pyramid King SoT

​

Introduction:
Well, after being given the honor of being able to use the name of Pyramid King, I decided to go about making a team that would fit the name. This was the team I had drafted up, I wanted to make a team that would be both great on the offensive as well as maintain a solid defensive background. I had talked to a few users to help me get an idea on how to start the team. One user being Caelum, my older brother, he's always been there for me, from the start when I first met him pestering him about me being a good user and him not believing me. He's one of the coolest people I've met on smogon and he's always had my back, we've become really close, and I consider him like a brother. He played a giant role in helping me become a brain, and helping me become the user I am today, be it giving me ideas, cheering me up, just being their to talk, and just being awesome. Thanks brother Cael ^_^. Another user who helped me get this team under way is Gouki. I've always particularly enjoyed talking to him about anything really, and he always has great insight when it comes to pokemon. I've built a few teams with him before, and there's always a little Gouki in my teams. Anyways, I was talking to him about how I should go about making a team worthy enough for the name of Pyramid King SoT. He gave me a solid idea, in makign a team that will strike fear into other people, and provide a way to pressure other peoples teams with nonstop powers. This team was used in most of my battles, and ended up with a winning record, but as the metagame shifted, I decided to shift teams as well, I started using this team on the ladder after, and then it got me easily into the 1500's on a few alts. I still use this team as a Trump card today if need be.

This team was based around getting a Lucario or a Celebi sweep underway. Each pokemon aids in accomplishing that feat in numerous ways which I will explain throughout. If you're one of the few that passed this team you were rewarded with this badge accomidating your victory.

At a Glance:

In-Depth Look:

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/128 Atk/128 Def
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hypnosis
- Gyro Ball

- This guy helps out my team in numerous ways. Stealth Rock is there to allow Lucario to get that KO on pokemon like Zapdos, Gyarados, and Salamence as well as hurting my opponents everytime they switch in. Paired up with Sandstorm it makes it so I essentially have to do 82.725% factoring Sandstorm and Stealth Rock damage. Hypnosis help cripple pokemon who otherwise could prevent Lucario from coming in and getting that sweep. Earthquake is to hit Magnezone that lack Magnet Rise, Scarf Zone in general who can cause Lucario trouble down the road. Gyro ball is for more coverage, and to help Bronzong take advantage of his low speed and provide a realiable STAB.
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Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit

Absolute monster, pair up his monstrously massive Attack stat and couple it up with a Choice Band put his Attack stat sky high. Crunch is there to help take out Celebi, Cresellia, Rotom and other Psychic or Ghosts seeing as my Lucario lacks crunch. Pursuit is there so I can hit Gengar, Blissey, and just any other choiced Pokemon I know is gonna be switching out. Stone Edge is there for STAB and helps nail Zapdos, Salamence, and Gyarados who can prove troublesome for my Lucario. Earthquake is really only here for grounded Steel-type Pokemon, but I may drop it for Aqua tail as they share similar coverage and Stone Edge + Earthquake is kind of redundant to me. This is my first switch in for Heatran as it provides a great way to take it out allowing Celebi and Lucario to have a much easier time late in the game.
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Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 Atk/176 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Draco Meteor
- Brick Break
- Fire Blast
- Roost

Mix Mence, probably the best set up for Lucario that there is. With the influx of DD Outrage Salamence out and about, this nails so many Physical walls and takes them out right off the bat. Draco Meteor and Fire Blast go virtually unwalled, besides the omnipresent Heatran who loses to Brick Break. Roost is there so I can recover damage from Sandstorm, Stealth Rocks, and from Life Orb recoil. This is my main go-to guy when it comes to taking out Bulky Waters early in the game since they provide a lot of trouble for Lucario.
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Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 80 HP/176 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover

This guy is my Caelum of the team. He's cute, and he's my favorite ^_^. Calm Mind is to help stat up, and sweep. Recover is there so that he can restore some health after statting up, and makes it easier to pull off a sweep in general. Grass Knot is for STAB and it does more to the OU metagame than Energy Ball does, but Energy Ball does have that nice little Sp. Def drop that may come in handy. HP Fire is just so I can take out steels, I may run Earth Power, but it doesn't serve much of a purpose besides Infernape switch ins, and Heatran switch ins, but if I do that I may run an occa berry so I can do it effectively.
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Vaporeon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Protect

This is probably one of the most reliable pokemon in the game. I absolutely love the job she does, and how she does it so well. Wish is a great game, allowing for Vappy to heal herself, and teamates. Protect is there to get off a "free" wish, as well as scout Choiced users, making it easier for me since I don't have to predict as much. HP Elec is for Gyarados, since I believe Salamence is handled by Bronzong. Surf is just there for Heatran, and STAB in general. This is my back up check into Heatran, but I don't like showing this in to early, cause one false move and she might take an explosion, which hurts me on the defensive side.
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Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance

Lastly the star of the team, this is a set that MoP gave me and it's working out quite well. Swords Dance to boost up your Attack, making you that much more of a pain in the ass. Stone Edge is there to hit Ghosts, Salamence, Zapdos, as well as Gyarados since my other attacks can't do that to reliably. Close Combat is there for STAB and just to hit random pokemon hard, even if they resist it they're still taking a lot of damage from it. Extremespeed is there to hit the Pokemon that are faster than me, so I can have an easier time accomplishing a sweep, as well as being a last resort to infernape who got the best of my team.
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Conclusion:
All in all, this probably the best balanced team I've made and it gets me the result I want. It's one of my favorite teams to use, as it gives me a lot of options for various scenarios and is just a fun team to use. I don't care, rate, hate, steal, whatever floats your boat. Well thanks for taking the time to read up to this point, I'll explain how I built the team in my next post.

 

[SoT]

First off I started constructing this team by considering the most common Lucario counters. In order to do that, I needed to get a set Lucario set, after putting some thought into it, I decided I'd go with a:

Lucario @ Life Orb
Adamant - 252 Attack 252 Speed 4 HP
Inner Focus
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Stone Edge

With this set in mind, I decided to build a list of what counters Lucario. My list concluded of:
- Celebi: With the lack of Crunch or Ice Punch I really didn't have a way to really hit Celebi, or any pyschics for that matter.
- Cresselia: Same as Celebi
- Gliscor: I don't have any move that can really damage it, so I'll need some pokemon that can definitely take that out.
- Zapdos: If it's faster than me, I'll need to be able to take it out, if I'm faster than with SR up, I should be fine.
- Salamence/Gyarados: Both have intimidate and can come in on an SD, Salamence outspeeds, but Gyarados is gonna get nailed with a stone edge.
- Rotom: All rotoms with one of the following; Will-o-Wisp, Thunderbolt, Over Heat, Thunderwave can really ruin a Lucario sweep.

With all these in mind I created a list of what I need.

- A Pursuiter could help with the Ghost and Psychic Pokemon who trouble me.
- A Gyarados and Salamence check, as well as a decent Zapdos counter.
- A Pokemon who can reliably switch into Gliscor and help Lucario in general.
- I want to go with a 2 Physical sweepers, 2 Sp. Attackers, 2 walls kind of thing.

Right off the bat, I noticed that a Pursuiter who can cover Zapdos, as well as rif the way of walls in general. First pokemon that came to mind, as well as a Scarf Heracross, followed up but a CB Weavile.

Tyranitar @ Choice band
Adamant - 252 HP 252 Attack 4 Speed
Sandstream
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

This pokemon covers Celebi, Cresselia, Rotom, and Zapdos clearing out many of the treats I needed to take care of. It also helps clear the way for Lucario by crippling a lot of walls, as well as maybe even getting a sweep in as well.

So far I have Tyranitar and Lucario. I still need a Gyarados, Salamence, Gliscor check in, and a Stealth Rocker, as well as some more pokemon to help clear the way for Lucario.

I noticed a bulky water could help cover most of these so I created a list of bulky waters who could help. After limiting it down I came up with these 3:

Suicune: Provides offense coverage, but lack reliable health so least useful.
Slowbro: Bulky, counters all 3, has recovery, but not sure how well it would work.
Vaporeon: Reliable, has wish, heals teams, and a great Gyara check in.

After some though, I went with Vaporeon, be it cause I've used it before, or just cause I thought it would work best. It provides Health to the rest of my team, as well as countering Gyarados, Gliscor. So far I have: Lucario/Tyranitar/Vaporeon

I do lack a great Salamence switch in, as well as a Stealth Rocker so I narrowed it down to 2 pokemon:

Skarmory: Can phaze, Spike, recover, and just a sturdy wall.
Bronzong: Can Spike, sleep, boom, and just a reliable transition mon in general.

I ended up going down the road with bronzong because of 1 thing. It could sleep pokemon. I figured that the him having no recovoery could be helped out with because of Vappy's wish passing. Hypnosis, even with it's lowered accuracy, is probably one of the most game chaning moves in the game, if you get that one pokemon asleep, it can shift the whole game towards you favor. I ended up running an awkward set, so I can actually hit Heatran/Magnezones coming in on the swithch.

Bronzong @ leftovers
Relaxed - 252 Hp 128 Def 128 Attack
Levitate
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hypnosis

This is an effective lead, and it is a really good transition mon being weak to only one move, fire which 3 of my pokemon so far can switch in on reliably. Stealth Rock is an invaluable move, as it helps lucario net some well needed KO's as well as just be of a great annoyance to your opponent.
So far I have: Bronzong/Tyranitar/Vaporeon/Lucario

Now that I have a nice defensive core, I thought I'd need a pokemon who works well in conjunction with Lucario, and is a great wall breaker. This was a no-brainer, Salamence. The question was, what mence though, Specs, Scarf, Mix, Band, DD, Bulky, Wisher? So many choices, and only one to choose. I decided to go for the one that would probalby help clear the way the most, and be the morst beneficial on the defensive side as well. I went down the mix mence road, a reliable switch in to most physical threats, as well as clear out walls with it's devastating attack power, and it has access to roost.

Salamence @ Life Orb
Naive - 252 Sp.Atk 176 Speed 80 Attack
Intimidate
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Brick Break
- Roost

Best mixed sweeper in the game. Takes out a ton of walls, as well as providing a great combo between Lucario and Salamence. This set is just standard, as most are, but it really does what it needs to and that's fine with me.

Lastly I felt like I needed a pokemon who could do some damage on the Sp. Attacking side. I wasn't really sure what I wanted, but I know I wanted something somewhat original. That's when it hit me, CM Celebi. It's not to common, it's reliable, and it's my favorite pokemon. Here was the dilema:

Grass Knot/Earth Power
Grass Knot/Psychic
Grass Knot/ HP Fire
Pyschic/HP Fire
Pyschic/Earth Power
Earth Power/HP Fire

All of which are viable, just which one to use. Calm Mind and recover where musts since I wanted it to be a sweeper that could last throughout the battle. After much thought I figured that with all these pokemon to take out Fire pokemon, Grass Knot and HP Fire seemed to be the logical choice.

Now I had the team all constructed and I ended up with
Tyranitar/Bronzong/Celebi/Vaporeon/Salamence/Lucario

 

[Scofield]

Looks great, Sex on Tuesdays.

A few things:

-Bronzong: I never like zong as a lead anymore as it has to switch out against ape and heatran, but if you find it reliable enough that's fine. Have you ever thought about running a screen in place of hypnosis? It could either give mence a longer life or allow lucario to set up easier.

-Ttar: I really do prefer aqua tail over earthquake. Allows you to hit things much better on the switch while still hitting heatran. And of course, getting choiced into ground moves sucks.

-Salamence: I hate running life orb and sandstream, although roost helps. That's a shame because I think that the roostless mixmence v2.0 (outrage, no roost) would actually help this team more and is the superior mixmence, but not much you can do about that here.

-Lucario: In order to outrun mence (and some zapdos) wouldn't you much rather have a Jolly nature?

Overall, it is a pretty solid team.

I do see a bit of a salamence weakness. How do you take it out? It can set up on vappy, celebi and half of ttars moveset. I'm guessing that you just play off of your opponent's blindness to your movesets, fearing ice beam and twave. But once they realize it, you're in quite a bit of trouble with only zong as a minor safety if it hadn't taken enough prior damage.

Why reveal this team before the smogon tour though?

 

[SoT]

It got backseated to a different brain team, one I believe is better. And hmm...for Salamences I usually just send in Zong, assuming it's a DD. I survive an outrage, Gyro Ball it either killing it, nearly killing it so I can revenge it with Lucario.

I am considering Aqua Tail, it seems like it's a good coverage move, and it probably could do better in serving as one for Tyranitar...I suppose I'll giive that a go.

I generally plan on getting this late game where I believe the extra power is needed, but if it will get me the results, I'll throw jolly on Lucario.

Thanks for the rate, I'll test this out.

 

[panamaxis]

First off, nice team SOT. Mix-mence is great and all, but with SR, life orb and sandstorm damage it will get worn down easily, especially if you have to switch out due to draco meteor, most people won't give you the chance to roost. I'm not sure what could replace it though, it's just that good. Do you find that salamence dies to quickly? If you don't then by all means keep it, maybe a mixed metagross could work, with grass knot, meteor mash, explosion and hp ice, to lure out hippowdon and zapdos.

I'd stick aqua tail over Earthquake on tyranitar, for the 2HKO against gliscor and hippowdon, this will help lucario have a great chance at the sweep. Mos Metagross and Jirachi should be 2HKOed by crunch anyway so it's not too big of a deal.

I would advise against jolly on lucario. Lucario needs that extra power and a lot of people run timid/ jolly on their zapdos and gliscor just to outrun all Lucarios.

 

[Legacy Raider]

Really nice team SoT, one that I wouldn't want to face any time soon =P. I like how everything works together to remove anything that could be harmful to Lucario's sweep. I have just a couple of suggestions.

Your team has a very nice offense, but I'm thinking it could have problems with a lot of stall teams. Your team is very balanced, and because of that it might not be able to lay down a smacking hard enough to keep the stall team from outlasting you. Fortunately, there are a couple of small things you can do that will make taking them on a lot easier. First of all, on Tyranitar, you might want to try out a 176 HP, 252 Atk, 80 Spe spread to let you get the jump on Skarmory. The speed is very handy to outpace it and 2HKO it as it switches in with Stone Edge. Also means that if it is in already it can't keep on Roosting to remove its neutrality to SE as you will be faster than it. Aqua Tail is also a great option over Earthquake if you feel like Hippowdon keeps coming in to take your hit, as on many stall teams the Hippo is their only answer to something as strong as a CB Tyranitar. Aqua Tail is a clean 2HKO on the bulkiest Hippowdon you will find. It also gets excellent neutral coverage as well, being able to hit a great multitude of types with a solid hit. It's also not quite as common as Earthquake on Tyranitar, so they are in for a nasty surprise if people think they can bring things like Flygon and Gliscor into Tyranitar safely (taking out Gliscor = happy Luke =D)

On Celebi I would definitely keep Grass Knot over Energy Ball, as with your current offensive spread you get a 2HKO on even Careful specially defensive Tyranitar with Grass Knot. Grass Knot hits Tyranitar and Gyarados for 120 BP, and Suicune, Kingdra and Machamp for 100, and so in general the targets you will be using a grass attack will be hit a lot harder than by Energy Ball.

Not much else to say, really. It is an excellently made team and the best thing is that it has a set goal for it to achieve, which I believe is really what makes or breaks a team. Great job, and I hope I get to play you in the frontier soon.

LR.

 

[chenman333]

I'm going to recommend that you run max speed on Salamence (16 Atk/240 SpA/252 SpA, Naive), and maybe run Outrage over Roost

First of all, with SR, you don't really need the extra attack EVs for Brick Break. You still 2hko Blissey on the switch, 1hko most Tyranitar, and 2hko Heatran. 16 SpA EVs don't help too much either (you will still hit bulky waters extremely hard, I doubt it makes a difference). The EVs have something to do with Outrage+Meteor vs. Blissey too. But, outspeeding the majority of Salamence, Jirachi, Zapdos, and the other base 100s out there is very useful indeed, because most people don't run max speed. Hell, you might even outrun some infernape that think they can get by without running enough speed to outspeed base 100s (and there are a few). Max Speed is incredibly useful, because it means you can get in that Draco Meteor against most Zapdos and Salamence.

Alright, now Outrage vs. Roost. I am going to say go with Outrage simply because it gives you a move you can kill stuff with as your life goes down. Because as other people have said, it will be tough to get a Roost, mainly because whatever comes in is likely to force you out. Draco Meteor doesn't 1hko many walls; you need to hit them on the switch, then hit them again. This is why Roost actually takes away this ability; you heal, then are being forced to go out again, without damaging the wall that switches in (which could very well be a bulky water). So instead, you should give Salamence a 2nd option to kill stuff with; Outrage. The EVs given above allow you to kill the standard WishBliss with Draco+Outrage basically every time, even if rocks aren't there. It also provides a useful last ditch move to kill something. When your SpA gets shot from Meteors and something pops up you might be able to kill, you need an attack to kill it with. Brick Break is far too weak for the job (I mean, you barely 2hko on SE hits); but Outrage can very well get the job done. Outrage even does more on resisted hits than Brick Break.

Also, I'm not the biggest fan of Stone Edge on Lucario, mainly because the majority of Zapdos and Salamence should outspeed Adamant Lucario, so you are only hitting Gyara and ghosts, the latter of which can be hit much harder with Crunch (as well as hitting Celebi).

I also see a bit of a Mixmence weak yourself. Bronzong takes around 83% from a LO Fire Blast, Lucario is obviously dead, Celebi dies to Fire Blast and Draco Meteor, Vappy can force it into Outrage (but of course it will be dead), and Tyranitar gets killed by Brick Break. I'll try to think of a good solution, but right now, I can only think of Ice Beam on Vaporeon (and not switching into it) or putting an ice attack on something and giving it a scarf.

 

[ToF]

Hello there SoT,

So a little offensive Zapdos weakness. Thunderbolt / HP Ice / Heat Wave sorta hits everything bar Tyranitar. If you seem to be losing to them more frequently, you can always try shifting some attack EV's into Sp.Def, but not necessarily becoming JibakuTar. Only a minor suggestion really, as it seems you have enough bulky as of now anyway.

If you do decide to make this move, Aqua Tail is virtually useless. Only way you beat Hippowdon is with max attack. However, if you are content with your current spread, by all means use Aqua Tail over Earthquake to nab the 2HKO.

Everything else looks decent enough...you got most other playstyles covered because of Salamence. Good job =).

 

[boundersting1]

Chenman333, the spread you suggested for mixmence is to ensure, with stealth rock support, you can it blissey on the switch with draco meteor, and then ko with outrage. I use this spread myself on my mixmence. Nice team SoT, btw.

 

[Shur.tugal]

Brilliant team as always SoT.

If you are constantly switching in Bronzong into Salamence I recommend these EVs:

252HP / 200Def / 56SpD; Relaxed

These EVs make a Jolly, 252Atk, LO +1 outrage from a mence a 3HKO. With the SpD EVs a Fire Blast from a LO 120SpA, Modest Mence a 2HKO.

Although these EVs are preferred on a duelscreen set they can work on your zong.

Other than that I have 1 question:

What is with the Brown Celebi?

Excellent team, I look forward to beating it.

btw, if you find Bronzong doesn't work as a lead for you CB Tar is an excellent lead, I have used one with great success before.