Although I play next to no hackmons, even I know there should be a moldy mon on every team as wg is really common and the best user is probably mega gengar though it can't handle the power of surskit
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Sample Teams for Entering Other Metagames
- Thread starter EV
- Start date
- Status
DoW
formally Death on Wings
Ok, why not put my flying team up here?
Tier: OU Monotype (used on the ladder to some effect and in tournaments to more effect)
Flying teams are dominated by Stealth Rocks and the large number of moves everything carries that are Super-effective against them (boltbeam and rock are all good coverage moves that many pokemon carry). Because of this I find that a more offensive playstyle is better for the type, leading me to make this team.
This team is designed to hit the opposing team's special defense hard, which means that as soon as any special walls have been worn out, the rest of the team simply keeps hitting the special side hard, allowing a sweep. However, this tactic struggles to get past Chansey, Blissey and Zapdos, among others, so Staraptor is included to take these out, allowing the team to take out any particularly good special walls that would give the rest of the team a hard time.
Meanwhile, the mixture of Tornadus-t, Thundurus-t and Staraptor form a volt-turn core, allowing me to maintain momentum and giving the opponent a hard time predicting. Especially with staraptor, one mispredict could lead to their special wall being taken out by a banded close combat, while Tornadus-t's Knock Off also hurts walls by taking away leftovers recovery or even eviolite. This allows me to keep pressuring the opponent until their walls are weak enough for a sweep.
Skarmory provides Defog support, allowing me to keep switching as flying-types are weak to stealth rock, while also setting up rocks to hurt opponents who keep switching, while also breaking sashes and hitting ice-types hard, which can often give flying a hard time. Alongside Assault Vest Tornadus-t, there's generally one pokemon on the team that can switch into an opposing attack and do something back, whether phazing with whirlwind or hitting them with Air Slash. Make sure to use the surprise factor of AV tornadus-t to your advantage, as it's a set not often seen (despite being on the OU analyses I think), so often people expect to beat it when they won't.
MegaZard Y is very good at spamming sun-boosted STAB fire moves, while the sun also helps Tornadus-t's heat wave to help beat steel teams, and the sun provides some help when dealing with water teams, especially those using Swift Swim pokemon. Landorus is my main sweeper, as after a rock polish boost it outspeeds most things and Life Orb Sheer Force attacks generally do plenty of damage even against pokemon with a good Special Defense.
The team's designed to (hopefully) not have too many glaring weaknesses, but here's some things to look out for:
I'm happy for you to copy the team, but I recommend you make some edits (at least change the names). I see some people using copied teams sometimes, and they simply don't understand them as well as if they used their own teams. Play around with it, it's far from perfect, and if someone who's played me sees the team and you've got different sets that'll throw them off. Quick Attack Staraptor, Grass Knot Thundurus, Focus Miss Tornadus, Psychic Landorus, Brave Bird Skarmory, whatever. They're all usable moves that I've considered, and it'll help make the team personalised.
Death on Wings (Staraptor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Double-Edge
DestroyerOfWorlds (Thundurus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
FLASH!!! (aah!) (Charizard) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Roost
Landorus-Sweepian (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Wave
- Rock Polish
Steel Rain (Skarmory) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 Spd
Bold Nature
- Whirlwind
- Defog
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
HoNk :O) (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Air Slash
- Heat Wave
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Double-Edge
DestroyerOfWorlds (Thundurus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
FLASH!!! (aah!) (Charizard) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Roost
Landorus-Sweepian (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Wave
- Rock Polish
Steel Rain (Skarmory) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 Spd
Bold Nature
- Whirlwind
- Defog
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
HoNk :O) (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Air Slash
- Heat Wave
Flying teams are dominated by Stealth Rocks and the large number of moves everything carries that are Super-effective against them (boltbeam and rock are all good coverage moves that many pokemon carry). Because of this I find that a more offensive playstyle is better for the type, leading me to make this team.
This team is designed to hit the opposing team's special defense hard, which means that as soon as any special walls have been worn out, the rest of the team simply keeps hitting the special side hard, allowing a sweep. However, this tactic struggles to get past Chansey, Blissey and Zapdos, among others, so Staraptor is included to take these out, allowing the team to take out any particularly good special walls that would give the rest of the team a hard time.
Meanwhile, the mixture of Tornadus-t, Thundurus-t and Staraptor form a volt-turn core, allowing me to maintain momentum and giving the opponent a hard time predicting. Especially with staraptor, one mispredict could lead to their special wall being taken out by a banded close combat, while Tornadus-t's Knock Off also hurts walls by taking away leftovers recovery or even eviolite. This allows me to keep pressuring the opponent until their walls are weak enough for a sweep.
Skarmory provides Defog support, allowing me to keep switching as flying-types are weak to stealth rock, while also setting up rocks to hurt opponents who keep switching, while also breaking sashes and hitting ice-types hard, which can often give flying a hard time. Alongside Assault Vest Tornadus-t, there's generally one pokemon on the team that can switch into an opposing attack and do something back, whether phazing with whirlwind or hitting them with Air Slash. Make sure to use the surprise factor of AV tornadus-t to your advantage, as it's a set not often seen (despite being on the OU analyses I think), so often people expect to beat it when they won't.
MegaZard Y is very good at spamming sun-boosted STAB fire moves, while the sun also helps Tornadus-t's heat wave to help beat steel teams, and the sun provides some help when dealing with water teams, especially those using Swift Swim pokemon. Landorus is my main sweeper, as after a rock polish boost it outspeeds most things and Life Orb Sheer Force attacks generally do plenty of damage even against pokemon with a good Special Defense.
The team's designed to (hopefully) not have too many glaring weaknesses, but here's some things to look out for:
Specially Defensive pokemon: If Blissey, Chansey, Zapdos, or some other good specially defensive wall is on the opposing team, be sure to keep Staraptor healthy to deal with it. Otherwise you may find you lose all your pokemon to a very slow Blissey sweep, which isn't a pleasant experience.
Pokemon boosting their speed: The team only has one (fairly fragile) scarf user and no priority, so if something boosts its speed it can suddenly be a threat. For example, if Cloyster sets up a shell smash then unless you can phaze it with skarmory it will sweep the team. Be certain to get up stealth rock against teams with cloyster as this will help defeat it before it can set up.
Stealth Rock: This team (as with many flying teams) struggles when Stealth Rock is up on its side of the field. The Volt-Turn core is hit hard by taking 25% with each switch (even with tornadus-t's regenerator), Zard takes 50% on switch-in and Skarmory loses Sturdy. If the opponent seems likely to go for Stealth Rock, do what you can to defog it as early as possible (even if it means losing your own hazards), as otherwise you'll have a very difficult time winning.
Electric teams: Ok there's two electric immunitites on the team, but many electric pokes also carry ice coverage so that's not too helpful. Moreover, there's plenty of flying or levitate pokes on most electric teams so Landorus will struggle to sweep. Often they have Zapdos as well, making things even harder. There's no simple solution here, just be very careful and try to preserve your pokes as best you can as generally it's quite easy to wear them down slowly, allowing for a landorus sweep when the ground immunities are on low enough health to be KO'd by Sludge Wave or Focus Miss. Being stally also helps break those annoying balloons.
Bulky Water teams: Yeah these are the best teams on the ladder right now in my opinion. If you can help it, don't battle Sae Sae cuz you're in for a beating if you do. Thundurus-t can spam Volt Switch and MegaZard can spam Solar Beam (if they don't have Politoed), but the amount of BoltBeam on these teams isn't nice. Don't be afraid to sacrifice pokes here, because if you win it'll be with only Zard, Thundy and Torny surviving in any case (at best). Staraptor 2HKO's CroCune if Scald doesn't take it out. Most people don't expect it to do that much, so use that to your advantage and take the momentum. Other than that, uh... good luck. These teams are pretty much the best counter teams I can think of (better than electric, ice or rock).
Any user going by the name of Pk-Kaiser: Yeah, that guy's ungodly good at pokemon. Uh... hax him to death...and probably still lose.
Pokemon boosting their speed: The team only has one (fairly fragile) scarf user and no priority, so if something boosts its speed it can suddenly be a threat. For example, if Cloyster sets up a shell smash then unless you can phaze it with skarmory it will sweep the team. Be certain to get up stealth rock against teams with cloyster as this will help defeat it before it can set up.
Stealth Rock: This team (as with many flying teams) struggles when Stealth Rock is up on its side of the field. The Volt-Turn core is hit hard by taking 25% with each switch (even with tornadus-t's regenerator), Zard takes 50% on switch-in and Skarmory loses Sturdy. If the opponent seems likely to go for Stealth Rock, do what you can to defog it as early as possible (even if it means losing your own hazards), as otherwise you'll have a very difficult time winning.
Electric teams: Ok there's two electric immunitites on the team, but many electric pokes also carry ice coverage so that's not too helpful. Moreover, there's plenty of flying or levitate pokes on most electric teams so Landorus will struggle to sweep. Often they have Zapdos as well, making things even harder. There's no simple solution here, just be very careful and try to preserve your pokes as best you can as generally it's quite easy to wear them down slowly, allowing for a landorus sweep when the ground immunities are on low enough health to be KO'd by Sludge Wave or Focus Miss. Being stally also helps break those annoying balloons.
Bulky Water teams: Yeah these are the best teams on the ladder right now in my opinion. If you can help it, don't battle Sae Sae cuz you're in for a beating if you do. Thundurus-t can spam Volt Switch and MegaZard can spam Solar Beam (if they don't have Politoed), but the amount of BoltBeam on these teams isn't nice. Don't be afraid to sacrifice pokes here, because if you win it'll be with only Zard, Thundy and Torny surviving in any case (at best). Staraptor 2HKO's CroCune if Scald doesn't take it out. Most people don't expect it to do that much, so use that to your advantage and take the momentum. Other than that, uh... good luck. These teams are pretty much the best counter teams I can think of (better than electric, ice or rock).
Any user going by the name of Pk-Kaiser: Yeah, that guy's ungodly good at pokemon. Uh... hax him to death...
I'm happy for you to copy the team, but I recommend you make some edits (at least change the names). I see some people using copied teams sometimes, and they simply don't understand them as well as if they used their own teams. Play around with it, it's far from perfect, and if someone who's played me sees the team and you've got different sets that'll throw them off. Quick Attack Staraptor, Grass Knot Thundurus, Focus Miss Tornadus, Psychic Landorus, Brave Bird Skarmory, whatever. They're all usable moves that I've considered, and it'll help make the team personalised.
Last edited:
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Brave Bird
Sableye (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Dark Void
- Parting Shot
- Foul Play
Quagsire (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover
- Protect
Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
- Transform
- Wish
- Seismic Toss
- Aromatherapy
Mawile (M) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Shift Gear
- Play Rough
- Fire Fang
- Brick Break
Diggersby (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Belly Drum
- ExtremeSpeed
- Earthquake
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Brave Bird
Sableye (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Dark Void
- Parting Shot
- Foul Play
Quagsire (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover
- Protect
Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
- Transform
- Wish
- Seismic Toss
- Aromatherapy
Mawile (M) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Shift Gear
- Play Rough
- Fire Fang
- Brick Break
Diggersby (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Belly Drum
- ExtremeSpeed
- Earthquake
Format: STABmons
This team does well pretty much owing to the one of the common reasons why any team does good in any tier: It aims to counter the most used strategy in the tier. A tier with so much Setup Sweepers and firepower is easily countered with a team whose main aim is to stop a sweep / cripple with status and stall out the opponent and if needed, put the revenge killer (Diggersby) and/or set up sweeper (Mega Mawile) to work. I peaked at #2 on my original alt with this team (I went 20-0 with another test alt, but I couldn't play more before the ladder went down). Consult the RMT for more explanations. Thanks!
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