RU Teambuilding

[Endeby]

Kabutops @ Life Orb
Trait: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Stone Edge
- Rapid Spin / Waterfall

Not sure if this is a typo, but if it`s not: Care to elaborate why I should use Weak Armor on over Battle Armor or Swift Swim on him? I guess it has some uses on the Waterfall version of him, but being able to fire of a fast Stone Edge (that may miss anyway) seem like a bad tradeoff for -1 defence.

I pretty much agree with everything else.

 

[DittoCrow]

Kabutops is surprisingly frail, and it has a lot of counters. If its Speed is raised, it becomes so much more fearsome as its base 115 Attack is usually boosted by Swords Dance. It doesn't really mind the Defense drop imo as it shouldn't be taking many hits in the first place.

 

[ThePhalanx]

^Exactly. I used to run the exact same set a while ago, and nobody expects the Weak Armor because most people consider it a bad ability. Kabutops is naturally bulky enough (defensively at least) to take a hit, get up to +2 Atk +1 Spe, and sweep from there. It's just so much more threatening at +1 Speed, since it can hit things harder that usually need to be hit with Aqua Jet.

 

[Endeby]

Fair point. I still can`t see Kabutops sweeping too often without Waterfall, but I guess the alternatives aren`t that much better. Still think at least Battle Armor should be slashed for the rapid spin set, as losing your spinner to the crit Stone Edge you predicted correctly always suck.

 

[Explorer]

I feel that which ability Kabutops uses depends on its role:

Spinner: Battle Armor
Full-out Attacker: Weak Armor
Rain Sweeper: Swift Swim

Personally though, I think spinning is best left to Sandslash and Kabutops should focus on attacking, so outside of rain teams, Weak Armor is the best option.

 

[august]

I feel that which ability Kabutops uses depends on its role:

Spinner: Battle Armor
Full-out Attacker: Weak Armor
Rain Sweeper: Swift Swim

Personally though, I think spinning is best left to Sandslash and Kabutops should focus on attacking, so outside of rain teams, Weak Armor is the best option.

The Defensive Sandslash set is a very poor Rapid Spinner. I'm assuming you have never used Offensive Rapid Spin Kabutops, but as of right now it is probably the best spinner in the tier :jump:

 

[Rakan]

I'm just going to add onto what August said, and just point out that Sandslash is beaten by every spin blocker in the tier. Misdreavus, Cofagrigus, Golurk, Spiritomb, Rotom, you name it, it can beat Sandslash. In addition, Sandslash either sacrifices bulk for the ability to do damage, or sacrifices pretty much any offensive potential for bulk. It's just not a good rapid spinner in the tier atm.

 

[Twannes]

Moltres @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Roost

Role: Special Sweeper
What it does:
Moltres is one of the most dominant threats in RU and functions really well as a special sweeper. Moltres is able to 2 or 3HKO the entire tier which is really powerfull. Fire Blast is the main STAB move and severely weakens anything that does not resist it. BW2 gave Moltres Hurricane, which is chosen above Air Slash as the power difference is easily notable. This 120 BP STAB move backend by LO can even 2HKO SpD Slowking (if it hits twice in a row, which is a 0,49% chance). Its accuracy hinder the move and will act like Focus Miss with only a 70% accuracy. Hidden Power Grass OHKO's switchins like Kabutops and Rhydon (if not with max SpD), even without hazards. Roost is there for survivabilty and can mean the difference between a sweep or death.
Good Teammates:
Stealth Rocks are a problem for Moltres, thus it needs a spinner to function well. Kabutops is a nice choice since it fits on an offensive team and can beat the tiers spinblockers. Moltres in return beats the many grass types threatening Kabutops. Another option for a rapid spinner is Cryognoal. If you do this, be sure to add a solid rock resistance since both are weak to Rock. Lanturn is one of the few things that wall Moltres and thus a way to deal with Lanturn s a good choice. A strong physical pokemon can usually break through Lanturn. An example is Drapion, who can use Earthquake to dispose of Lanturn. A Grass type like Sceptile or Tangrowth can deal with Lanturn pretty well too. Roselia is also a good choice since it can even take toxics and ice beams while setting up spikes. Speaking of spikes, Moltres appreciates hazards support. For example, with SR up, Moltres can beat Slowking with a combination of Hurricane and HP Grass rather than relying on Hurricane hitting twice.
What counters it:
Stealth Rocks limits Moltres's opportunities of switching in and also makes revenge killing a lot easier. Aside from that, Lanturn is the best counter to Moltres. It resists it's STAB moves and HP grass is a 3HKO after Leftovers (not counting hazards). It can paralyse Moltres with Thunder Wave or 2HKO with Scald because of Life Orb recoil. It can also Volt Switch to a revenge killer. Specially defensive Rhydon gets a special mention, as HP Grass does 78,26% - 92,75% to 252/252 with a boosting nature and eviolite and Rhydon can OHKO back with Rock Blast. For offensive checks, anything that is faster and with a strong Super Effective move can beat Moltres. Examples include Archeops's Head Smash, Kabutops's Waterfall or Rotom's Thunderbolt.
Any Additional Info:
252 SpAtk Life Orb Moltres (+SpAtk) Hurricane vs 252 HP/252 SpDef Slowking (+SpDef) : 46,7% - 55,08%, 2HKO after SR
(but who runs max/max Slowking these days?)