Raptor's Retreat (Hyper Offensive Volt-Turn Team)

[Kuvster1]

Introduction​

Hi everyone, this is Kuvster1 and heres my 2nd OU RMT. My 1st team was a failed attempt at a Sandstall team, which I ditched because it needed so much work. I'm still pretty new to competitive battling, and this is my first attempt at BW2. I was browsing through the tiers the other day, and I noticed something that seemed odd. Staraptor was BL. I realised that if Staraptor was overpowered in UU, then surely it could be effective in OU. After a few calculations, I was shocked. A Choice Band set had the potential to 2HKO or OHKO pretty much anything in OU, so I just had to try him out. This team has been relatively successful, I've probably won just over half my battles with it (which is really good for me). I've decided to post it here to get some help with tweaking it. Without further ado, here's the team!

At a Glance
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Teambuilding Process
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Staraptor is the reason I built this team, and the Pokemon who I designed my team around.
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Staraptor's 3 main counters are Metagross, Jirachi, and Skarmory. Magnezone can trap and kill all three of these Pokemon, and also has good synergy with Staraptor, resisting Staraptor's three weaknesses, and Staraptor being immune to Magnezone's quad weakness to Ground.
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At this point of time, I was really unsure about what to do with my team. I considered adding Politoed and turning my team into a Rain team, as this would allow Magnezone to spam 100% accurate STAB Thunders. But I didn't want to make another boring Rain team, so I ruled Politoed out. I then noticed that Staraptor has U-Turn, and Magnezone has Volt Switch, so I decided to turn my team into a Volt-Turn team. I know it isn't creative or original, but I then added Scizor and Rotom-W. These two Pokemon are the kings of Volt-Turn, so I knew they deserved a spot on my team.
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Entry hazards are Volt-Turns best friend and worst enemy, so I added Forretress to my team.
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With one weakness and two quad weaknesses to Fire, if Rotom-W goes down, my team was horrendously weak to Fire type attacks. He may lack U-turn or Volt Switch, but Heatran seemed like a good addition to my team.
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After a couple of battles, it was very clear to me that Forretress wasn't working. I'm not sure why, but he never really did his job. I still needed Rapid Spin and a hazard setter, so Donphan was the only other option.
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With Forretress gone and Donphan filling his space, Heatran's immunity to Fire was less important. With Magnezone removing pesky Steel types, Choice Scarf Salamence is free to murder anything in its path with a frighteningly powerful STAB Outrage.




A Closer Look

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Staraptor (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- Return
- U-turn​

Staraptor has got to be the most underrated Pokemon in OU. In fact, only three Pokemon in OU (Metagross, Jirachi and Skarmory) aren't 2HKOed by the appropriate move, and all three can be trapped and eliminated by Magnezone. I used to use Intimidate, but to be honest, Staraptor can't take hits anyway, and the boost Reckless brings is enough to secure many more KOs. Lots of people underestimate Staraptor, and end out with a few dead Pokemon because of it. The power behind Brave Bird is just insane, higher than that of a Timid Choice Specs STAB Boosted Rain Boosted Hydro Pump from Politoed. The set is simple, max Speed and Attack, with an Adamant nature for extra power. Brave Bird is the main STAB attack, with Close Combat for coverage. Return is there mainly just to hit Rotom-W, who otherwise walls this set. U-Turn allows me to scout switches and maintain momentum.

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Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon​

Magnezone has amazing synergy with Staraptor, resisting Rock, Electric and Ice, Staraptors three weaknesses. Staraptor is also immune to Ground type moves, Magnezone's crippling quad weakness. As I mentioned earlier, he also removes Staraptor's three biggest problems, Metagross, Skarmory and Jirachi. I've tried a set with Substitute and Charge Beam, but there isn't much that it can set up against, and it really needs the Speed. This set allows Magnezone to outspeed pretty much every Steel type it comes in to trap, while maintaining an impressive 359 Special Attack. Hidden Power Fire is to hit Scizor, Ferrothorn and Forretress hard, while Thunderbolt is the obligatory STAB attack, when I don't want to switch out with Volt Switch. Flash Cannon is my secondary STAB attack, and helps against a few Pokemon that resist Electric type attacks.

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Scizor (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-Turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit​

Choice Band Scizor is a good fit on pretty much any team. Resisting ten of the seventeen types is always helpful, giving plenty of opportunities to switch in and force the opponent out. The EVs and nature allow this set to hit extremely hard, with an impressive 591 attack, while maintaining maximum bulk. 248 HP EVs allow Scizor to switch into Stealth Rocks 8 times and still survive on 1HP. Bullet Punch is the most powerful priority attack in OU, OHKOing some weak opponents. Superpower is for coverage, and allows me to kill those annoying Blisseys and Ferrothorns. Pursuit is always useful, putting most Ghost and Psychic types in a checkmate position. This is a Volt-Turn team, so U-Turn is absolutely necessary to capitalise on the opponents that switch out and allow me to maintain my offensive momentum.

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Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick​

Rotom-W pairs with Choice Band Scizor like peanut butter and jelly. Rotom-W resists Scizor's quad weakness to Fire, and Scizor resists Rotom-W's weakness to Grass, and between them 14 of the 17 types are resisted. Thats what I call perfect synergy. I originally ran a bulky offensive set with Leftovers, but it didn't really work. The lack of speed was a pain, so I decided to try out a Choice Scarf set, and I've never looked back. The EVs and nature maximise Rotom-W's Special Attack and Speed, and 4 SDef EVs prevent Download Porygon-2/Z from getting a free Special Attack boost. Volt Switch is obvious, Hydro Pump is for a second STAB attack, while Hidden Power Ice provides coverage against the many dragons of OU. Trick though is the main reason to use this set, as it can completely screw up a whole lot of common walls.

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Donphan (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock​

Donphan's one of those Pokemon that are just plain awesome. I've loved him since 3rd Gen, but until now, I've never had an opportunity to use him competitively. Lots of people don't realise that Donphan has more Defense than Gliscor, Forretress, Ferrothorn and even Skarmory (factoring in Donphan's higher HP). I've gone for a more offensive Donphan, as this set is still capable of reliably setting up Stealth Rock, walling Physical attacks, and Rapid Spinning, while packing a huge punch with its impressive 372 Attack. Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin are the basis of this set, allowing Donphan to support my team to the fullest, Earthquake serves as my powerful STAB attack, while Stone Edge hits Flying types immune to Earthquake super-effectively, and creates the infamous EdgeQuake combo.

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Salamence (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage
- Brick Break​

Choice Scarf Salamence is easily the best late game sweeper in OU. Magnezone supports this set perfectly, removing the Steel types that resist Dragon type moves from play, allowing Salamence to enter the field and wreck havoc. I only unleash Salamence when the Steel types are gone, there are two or three Pokemon left alive, and the foe is weakened. I then hit Outrage, nab a kill, get a Moxie boost, and decimate whats left of the opponents team. The EVs and nature maximise Salamence's Attack and Speed, and again I've used 4 SDef EVs to prevent Download Porygon2/Z from getting a free Special Attack boost. Outrage is the crux of this set, nothing else is really necessary. Dragon Claw can be useful if there are still Steel types or Physical walls in play, and it isn't safe to lock into Outrage. Earthquake and Brick Break are there as fillers.

Conclusion​

Well there isn't much more to say. I'm still new to competitive battling so please be critical of my team, I really don't care if you tell me it's rubbish and I should start over. When rating my team, keep in mind that Staraptor is not going anywhere. He's the Pokemon I built this team around, and he will not be switched for anything else. A big thanks to Rubii16 from deviantART who let me use his epic Staraptor picture. Thanks to everyone who reads this RMT, and anyone who's kind enough to give me some help.

 

[Superpowerdude]

Hey man nice team! Staraptor is my favourite sinnoh pokemon and is quite underated in todays metagame. With that said I noticed your team has 5 Choiced item users This isnt exactly Ideal because your team gets easily handeled by Stall teams and Bulky offense teams due to Bulky Offense teams often relying on resisted hits to set up and threaten your team although your team can somewhat bypass this my Voltturning to the accurate counter it still isnt Ideal as Volt Switch and U-Turn will not be the only moves you go for. Therefore I suggest changing your Magnezone set to a Sub+3 Attacks Magnezone. This set lets you have the freedom to switch moves while still having the ability to trap steels.

I can also see a slight weakness to sun teams as a common combination of Venasaur and Volcarona can threaten your team greatly. Venasaur can outspeed all your pokes in sun if i am not mistaken and can threaten your team with sleep powder putting to sleep key pokemon of your team (Staraptor,Mence,Donphan) and then proceed to use Growth and sweep. Where as If Volcarona gets some quiver dances it can threaten your team with Fiery Dance to take out Scizor, Magnezone, Staraptor and Donphan in Sun. he can also take out rotom wash with Bug Buzz. Salamence is your only check to it and it still has a hard time against venasaur. To remedy this I have two suggestions. First you could change Salamence to aAir Ballon Heatran because it can take on Volcarona and Venasuar unless venasaur puts it to sleep, due to tran resisting both Venasaur and Volcaronas stabs or you could try out Scarf Politoeddue to it giving you your own form of perma weather it can make Venasaur Slow enough to Ko and you can revnege it with Hydro Pump. With a Politoed you will have Rotoms Hydro Pump improved in power and lets you run Thunder>Thunderbolt on Magnezone. Although with rain Magnezones Hp Fire will be weaknend it will still do a number to Scizor and Ferrothorn and Hp fighting can be used for Ferrothorn. Additionally Scizor and Forretress wont like Thunder at all so that is something to look into. All in all nice team based around an underated threat and good luck!

Sets

Hide

Heatran @ Air Baloon | Flash Fire
Timid | 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Fire Blast / Earth Power / Dragon Pulse or Hp Ice / Filler
Or

Politoed @ Choice Scarf | Drizzle
Timid | 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hydro Pump / Ice beam/ Hp Grass/ Focus Blast

Magnezone @ Leftovers | Magnet Pull
Timid | 36 Hp/ 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Thunder or Thunderbolt or Charge Beam / Substitute / Flash Cannon/ Hp Fire or Fighting

~Superpowerdude

 

[Finchinator]

Bulky Calm Mind Rachi could reallly do a number on your team, especially the thunder water pulse rain scerene grace para fuse abusing one, if you see rachi and they dont reveal it early game keep donphn and/or salemence alive untill its gone...dont need to be swept XD
Otherwise, I like your team a lot because staraptor never eeally gets usage because it is stuck in BL :/
Good Luck!

 

[Motagua]

Solid team I should say and really good to see someone abuse such an understimated pokemon as Staraptor. Ferrothorn in Rain could be a problem because HP Fire will only 4HKO meaning that Ferrothorn will have plenty of time to Leech Seed and stall it. To solve this problem, my suggestion would be to use a Choice Specs set instead of a Scarfed one. Even in Rain, Magnezone will be able to 2HKO with HP Fire while it still keeps his ability to trap Steel-types. You might want to know that the combination of Specs Thunderbolt + CB Brave Bird will 2HKO Metagross making it a superior option as Rotom-W does the revenge killing job better.

On Scizor you might want to move 4 EVs from Speed to Sp.Def. This will allow you to U-turn last and regain momentum against other CB Scizors while being able to outspeed Bulky SD variants and 2HKO them with Superpower. Finally, on Donphan you might want to run a split EV spread of 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Speed. 128 Speed EVs allows Donphan to outspeed standard Jellicent and 2HKO with Earthquake if he tries to erroneously block Rapid Spin. 128 HP still gives you a solid bulk and an extra Leftovers number. Hope this rate helps and good luck! Luvdisc because of Staraptor <3

Choice Specs Magnezone

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 148 HP / 252 SAtk / 108 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]

 

[Bossness]

I am pretty sure Staraptor get Double Edge. Why not use it over Return?
Double-Edge OHKOs Bulky Rotom-W and the rare Zapdoshttp://honko.byethost8.com/coverage_calc.html

 

[Sayonara]

Hi!

Really solid team, Kuvster1! I find that your team is composed of quite too many Choice users (Magnezone, Rotom-W, Salamence, Scizor, Staraptor). Choice Band Scizor isn't really needed, in my opinion, since you already have Scarf Rotom-W and Salamence to beat opponents like Terrakion. That's why I would recommend a Bulky Swords Dance Scizor. This set sacrifices immediate power for longevity and bulk, which help Scizor grab Swords Dance boosts and start a sweep. Bullet Punch is a strong STAB, hitting really hard after a Swords Dance boost, being able to do tons of damage to even some opponents who resist the attack. Bug Bite is also a powerful STAB move, and lets you get past Latios, Latias and Reuniclus with ease. Roost gives you a 50% health recovery, allowing you to regain health lost while setting up, while keeping Scizor in good shape throughout the match. The EV spread makes sure Scizor won't be 2HKO'd by Virizion and Reuniclus' Focus Blast. Leftovers grants recovery, extending Scizor's longevity. Finally, I would opt for Ice Shard over Stone Edge on Donphan. It lets you check Landorus, Salamence and Dragonite, which helps your team deal with those threats. It's also useful to eliminate a weakened opponent. I don't have much to add - cool team, and good luck!

Bulky Swords Dance Scizor

Scizor @ Leftovers | Technician
Adamant | 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SpD
~ Swords Dance
~ Bullet Punch
~ Bug Bite
~ Roost