Rating Practice Team #30

[Jirachee]

Welcome to the newest round of rating 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, provide you with experience rating teams that have been specifically made to be as tough to rate as possible, and make you think creatively in order to find the best changes for the team. Any rates we receive will be replied to with personalized feedback by an official Team Rater. 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 Jirachee no later than Monday, October 20th. Do not post rates in this thread.

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I made this team to utilize Heracross-Mega's wallbreaking capabilities because it's my favourite Mega evolution in the current metagame. The rest of the team either takes advantage or supports Heracross.

Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pin Missile
- Close Combat
- Rock Blast
- Swords Dance

Mega Heracross is a fucking boss. I chose it because of how strong it is. It can break through physical walls so Landorus-T can sweep easily, or Crawdaunt / Talonflame can pick off weakened teams late game with their priority. It also has pretty nice bulk and resistances which means it can check stuff like Bisharp that could be an issue otherwise. I try to play it early game because it can grab momentum easily.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish

Landorus-T's biggest selling point is that it provides a reliable win condition against offense while also taking advantage of Heracross's wallbreaking power. Thanks to Intimidate and its great typing it easily finds set-up opportunities against all kinds of threats. Once Skarmory has been weakened, not much is stopping this monster. It can also check dangerous threats such as Terrakion which can be an issue otherwise.

Crawdaunt @ Choice Band
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower

Crawdaunt actually hits harder than Azumarill despite the huge difference in Attack score between the two. Crawdaunt can serve against all kinds of teams thanks to its immense strength and access to priority. It can lure in a bulky Water type such as Rotom-W and weaken it to make it easier for my late game sweepers to sweep. It can also revenge kill dangerous threats such as Mega Tyranitar in a pinch.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed

Ferrothorn's the main defensive backbone of the team. It can switch into strong Water attacks that the team tends to hate, as well as Dragon and Fairy attacks. More importantly, Ferrothorn sets up Stealth Rock which is invaluable for all kinds of teams. Even though the team is kinda offensive, Ferrothorn fits well because most Defog users have a very hard time switching into it.

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Recover

A Defog user is a staple on any team carrying a lot of Choiced Pokemon as well as Talonflame, and Latias was my choice. I like it mainly because of the whole lot of resistances it has, checking stuff like Keldeo, while also having pretty solid offensive presence. Since it's my best Keldeo check I decided to opt for Latias over Latios because of the higher defenses. Recover over Healing Wish because I think Latias's health is more important to the team.

Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Tailwind

I needed a Revenge Killer, and Talonflame is one of the best at that. Choice Banded Brave Bird hits so hard it's unbelievable. It can also lead pretty well because of the fast U-turn and the fact it forces the opponent into pretty obvious moves, for example going to Heatran or Tyranitar, which means Crawdaunt gets a free hit. Tailwind can come in pretty handy late game and a +2 Speed Mega Heracross or Crawdaunt is just about the scariest shit you can face.

 

[Jirachee]

Alright, time's up for this round. Expect the next round to be up fairly soon. This round's winner is Celticpride , although Mix had a pretty good rate too. Here's the winning rate!

Here's my practice rate for the Rating Practice Team #30 (I hope this is still in time):

Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pin Missile
- Close Combat
- Rock Blast
- Swords Dance

While not a must, Guts is a more useful option over Moxie in my opinion. Guts allows unMega-evolved Heracross to maintain some usefulness if it suffers a Burn by spamming Close Combat, which is especially important considering the current team does not use Heal Bell/Aromatherapy support. Moxie is nice in theory, but most of the time Heracross will be taking down fuller health walls, not cleaning weakened teams.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Superpower
- U-Turn

Talonflame @ Sharp Beck
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Swords Dance

This is a more radical change, and probably a personal nitpick more than anything. Double Dance Landorus-T is a strong offensive win condition, and CB Talonflame can be a powerful revenge killer. However, they function pretty similarly as a pair when the roles are reversed. Landorus is still a powerful revenge killer with a Scarf, and Talonflame can clean against offense at +2 with Brave Bird and Flare Blitz. The reason for this change is that, when using Mega Heracross, Landorus-T functions as a much better U-Turn delivery system to get Hera in safely. Intimidate really helps on this front, because Mega Heracross gains a lot more set-up/damage dealing opportunities when the opponent’s attack is weakened to -1. SD Talon can also use Mew as set-up bait, who could otherwise give the other members of the team fits between Knock Off and Will-o-Wisp. SD Talonflame fits well because all of the usual things that stop it (Heatran, Rotom-W, Rhyperior) are handled well by multiple teammates.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave

Leech Seed loses usefulness when not paired with Protect, as you lose overall recovery. Thunder Wave is a very useful move on a team featuring Mega Heracross and Crawdaunt, as spreading Paralysis increases the number of threats that those two slower powerhouses can take on later on in the match. For example, Mega Heracross outspeeds paralyzed base 115 speed Pokemon with speed boosting natures (example, Timid Starmie) and paralyzed base 130 speed Pokemon with max EVs but lacking a speed boosting nature (example, Adamant Crobat). Likewise, Crawdaunt outspeeds paralyzed base 76 speed Pokemon with a speed boosting nature, and speed ties paralyzed base 90 speed Pokemon with 252 EVs and no speed boosting nature. Thunder Wave overall provides more support to the slower members of this teams, and can allow their poorer speed stats to be less of a factor.

I'd like to thank everyone who participated this round, and I encourage everyone to rate more of the teams posted every day :)