Rating Practice Team 25

[ShootingStarmie]

Welcome to the newest round of practice teams. If you're an aspiring rater, then these will hopefully allow you to pick up on and address any problems with your rating, as well as providing you with experience rating teams that have been specifically made to be as tough to rate as possible, and to make you think creatively in order to find the best changes. Any rates we receive will be replied to with personalized feedback by one of Remedy, dragonuser, ShootingStarmie, or Plus. Then, at the end of the round, we'll give some general hints and feedback on how things went, and post the best rate that we received as an example of how to rate the team.

Anyone is welcome to participate and send in their rate, and everyone will be guaranteed to receive feedback appropriate to the effort they put into their rate, regardless of their ability. However, to keep things fair we won't be considering rates sent in by official team raters as winners of the best rate.

If you would like to participate in this round, PM your rate to Remedy no later than Sunday 22 April.

Hi everyone, it's ShootingStarmie, bringing you a team. This team is based around the extremely powerful Keldeo / Tyranitar / Landorus core, and it's done pretty well on the ladder, but I think this team can be improved, which is why I'm posting it here. Anyway, here's the team

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 180 HP / 252 Atk / 76 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Choice Banded Tyranitar works really nicely with this team, as it traps Psychic and Ghost types that can often switch into Keldeo's Sacred Sword. Crunch is STAB and hits stupidly hard on neutral hits. Pursuit is a great move, as it catches fleeing opponents, essentially allowing me to trap and eliminate troublesome threats. Stone Edge is also STAB and actually 2HKO's Skarmory. Earthquake is mainly just coverage, as it allows me to hit Aegislash without fearing King's Shield. EVs are used to out pace Skarmory, allowing me to 2HKO with Stone Edge before it can Roost, the rest of the EVs are placed into HP and Atk for bulk and power.

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Flying]

Keldeo is one of the best wall breakers in the metagame right now, just because of it's absurd power and great STAB coverage. Hydro Pump destroys anything that doesn't resist this attack. Scald is an alternative Water type attack that still hits very hard, but also has 100% accuracy and a nice 30% burn rate. Sacred Sword is STAB, and sets Keldeo from the rest of the Special Attackers, as it's one of the few that can actually break through Chansey and Ferrothorn. HP Flying is used mainly as coverage to hit Mega Venusaur. EVs are used for max power and speed.

Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Sludge Wave

Landorus-I fits onto this team very nicely, as it provides Stealth Rocks, a check to Aegislash, and a way to break through most Fairy types with Sludge Wave. Apart from that, Landorus is also very powerful. Stealth Rock supports the team by wearing down the opponent with every switch in. Earth Power is STAB and hits very very hard when boost with Life Orb and Sheer Force. Psychic offers nice coverage, and I run it mainly because I hate Focus Blast. Finally, Sludge Wave offers nice coverage against Fairy types like Clefable and Togekiss, who often trouble Keldeo and Tyranitar. EVs are used for max power and speed.

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 104 SDef / 20 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn

I added Scizor onto this team for it's great synergy, as it allows me to easily switch into nearly any Fairy type. I chose to use the bulky SD set, just because Scizor is used to check so much stuff, and I don't like the idea of it being easily worn down. Swords Dance is used to boost Scizor's attack to very respectable levels, enabling it to possibly sweep late game. Roost is used to heal Scizor of any damage taken from switching in, and allows Scizor to set up on a bunch of threats. Bullet Punch is STAB and has solid base power with Technician (once it Mega Evolves). Finally, although U-turn may seem to be a poor choice, it allows Scizor to act as a pivot and a scout throughout the match, while being able to sweep late game. The EVs were just taken from the standard set, and they provide Scizor with great overall bulk, and enough speed for minimum speed Heatran.

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Defog

Latios has a pretty important role in this team, as it removes entry hazards, and serves as a good switch into Keldeo. Draco Meteor is STAB and has a solid base power and pretty nice accuracy. Psyshock is also STAB and allows Latios to hit Chansey very hard on the switch. Roost is used just because I didn't like the idea of using Earthquake, since I already have so much for Heatran, and Roost is generally nice to keep Latios around or longer. Finally, Defog supports the team by removing entry hazards. EVs are used for max speed and power.

Thundurus (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Nasty Plot

Thundurus-I was added to this team for it's ability to check so many dangerous threats. It's easily one of the best Pokemon in the metagame right now, and it suits this team nicely. Thundurus-I acts as a last resort for powerful sweepers like Charizard X and Azumarill, as Thunder Wave allows me to cripple them and deal with them accordingly. Thunderbolt is STAB and hits pretty hard on neutral threats. HP Ice offers Thundurus-I the best coverage with Thunderbolt. Finally, Nasty Plot is used as a way to possibly wall break for the team. EVs are used for maximum power and speed.

Well, there's the team guys. Have fun rating

 

[Reymedy]

Hello everybody.
This round's team was not easy to rate, and you had to deal with a pretty offensive team.
A lot of new raters have troubles rating offensive teams, since the easiest way to fix a threat is to add something able to switch into it safely most of the time. However, that's rarely a good solution for HO teams, as they rather have to NOT let a threat come in, than having to deal with it by switching once it's there.
Two raters caught our attention. The first one is X5Dragon, who did a pretty clean rate that mentions a couple of threat and deal with them efficiently. The other one is Mike Denewell. He was more ambitious with his rate, and considering it's his first rate, he definitely did a good impression to us. His only issue : a couple of redundancies (fixing two times the same threat).
I think there were two ways to rate the team, by adding a Bisharp somewhere and a Scarf ground to revenge kill most of the threats, and lower the burden on Thundurus' shoulders, or balacing the team by adding a Ferrothorn and another bulky pokemon to back it up.
Thanks for taking the time to rate, keep up the good work !