Overview
Hey y'all, this is kwan, and I wanted to know what you guys thought of my team and how it could be improved. As of this writing my record with this team has been 35-6, but it's tough to say how good of a measure that is since I don't really know how good my opponents are, and I've definitely gotten away with some lucky wins or bad decisions by opponents.
The team is a offensively-oriented rain team, with Starmie and Scizor being the primary forms of offense. Politoed is obviously there to set up rain. These 3 make up my core, and the other 3 have been shuffled around in the past, and for now I've settled with this.
The Team
Greg Popovich
Politoed @ Choice Specs
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Psychic
Pretty standard Specs Politoed. Specs Surf + rain deals surprisingly massive damage. Usually I'll lead with this guy just to set up rain, even if the enemy has other weathers e.g. Tyranitar, Ninetales, etc. Surf is really the only move I use. Ice beam is more of a desperation move against dragons when I'm out of options. HP Grass is meant for Jellicent and Gastrodon. Side comment: I frekin love leading with Poli when they have a Gastrodon, then use HP Grass off the bat since I find opponents like switching to Gastrodon, resulting in a OHKO and a huge pain out of my way. Psychic is also for Toxicroak expecting a Surf but instead also getting a 4x super-effective OHKO.
Kobe Bryant
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunder
- Psyshock
NO RAPID SPIN?? Yes, I know, blasphemous, but I've had a tough time giving up moveslots, so for now I'm running 4 offensive moves. Surf (or Hydro Pump, but I like reliability) is mandatory in rain, Ice Beam OHKOs Breloom and Salamence, Thunder 2HKOs Jellicent if I get an Analytic boost, and Psyshock really eases prediction. Example: Psyshock OHKOs Breloom also, but can still hurt Chansey, Gastrodon, Jellicent, or any Water Absorber on the switch. It'll also kill Dragonite's Multiscale and put him in OHKO range with Ice Beam. This is also all without Life Orb. I used to run Life Orb, but I decided I preferred Starmie's longevity more. Even without Life Orb, Starmie is pretty good at cleaning up weakened teams without priority. Usually, if the game is late enough, Starmie can clean up the entire team, unless someone like Jolteon or Sucker Punchers are still out there. I used to have Rapid Spin, but I've found taking a turn to spin away hazards often results in Starmie's death via Pursuit or something, whereas a Surf on the switch could result in a 2HKO and keep momentum without having to switch.
Kyrie Irving
Breloom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Low Sweep
- Mach Punch
- Spore
Standard hyper-offensive Breloom. EV Spread is pretty self-explanatory. Great revenge-killer, but also decent lead with Low Sweep to ease prediction and score a Speed reduction unless they switch in a Ghost type. This guy usually doesn't come in until late, but he's great for destroying Ferrothorn and any other Dark-types. Unfortunately, coverage is not so great, but Spore is always helpful. He also happens to be my only member with a Fighting-type move, though I feel Fighting has become less useful except against TTar. Definitely the most ephemeral Pokemon on my whole team; I don't think I've ever used him for more than 6 turns total.
LeBron James
Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Arguably the most dominant Pokemon in BW2 OU. Most people run a super-offensive Scizor with U-Turn to keep momentum and the escape from Magnezone. Here I chose to run a standard bulky set (see Smogon's "Bulky Swords Dance" set). Most often I find switching into a Salamence locked into Outrage, taking about 25% HP, then comfortably setting up SD + Roost. Even if Salamence decides to hit me with Fire Blast, Scizor can survive in the rain, and then 2HKO back with Bullet Punch. In essence, I find Scizor to be an equally useful defensive presence, and even though the coverage is not very good (e.g. huge Jellicent problems), Scizor forces so many switches that setting up SD becomes pretty easy, plus I can rack in some hazard damage.
Shaq
Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SAtk / 176 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Thunder
Finally, a non-standard set (I think). Timid nature + 0 Atk EVs means Dragonite will be a pretty mediocre physical attacker. However, considering my current team, I already have 3 physical attackers, so a specially based one would be useful in maintaining balance. The nature and Speed EVs are optimized to outrun 70 Base Speed with speed-boosting nature e.g. Jolly Breloom w/ Spore. The rest is dumped into SpA to hit hard from the Special side and HP to tank. As I currently have no way of getting rid of Stealth Rock, usually I'll switch in Dragonite if I see a potential Stealth Rock about to be set up. If rain is in effect, then Dragonite can hit pretty hard with STAB Hurricane and Thunder. Earthquake will also hit Ninetales for a 2HKO and Tyranitar for a 3HKO. Admittedly not very good; maybe I should take some HP EVs into Attack? One more perk of being a special attacker; almost everyone expects a physical Dragonite, so Forretress is a common switch-in, only to be OHKO'ed by Hurricane. This Dragonite also doesn't really mind burn too much either. Roost rounds out the tank fulfillment of this set and can restore Multiscale, though there is some synergy conflict with burn, Roost, and Multiscale :/
Tim Duncan
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
No surprises here. Huge tank, and has come up quite clutch for me. Standard entry hazards + 2 decent STAB offenses. SR really helps against Ninetales. Also useful for paralysis absorber, and about as good as Scizor in tanking Outrage-locked Salamence. No instant recover, but Iron Barbs has felled its fair share of dragons. EV and Nature taken directly from the Smogon set.
Some general comments
As you may have noticed, I have a massive amount of Fire weaknesses. Breloom, Scizor, and Ferrothorn add up to 5 type weaknesses. If I lose rain, I could be royally screwed. Setting up Stealth Rock against sun teams and keeping Politoed alive at least until the other weather inducer is gone is pretty important here. Dragonite can deal with Ninetales pretty easily, even in the sun, but Tyranitar and Hippowdon are a little tougher for me to deal with, since they usually switch out if I send in Breloom or Starmie, respectively. I have yet to test this team against Hail teams, since Hail teams are pretty rare and often underrated, so I'm not sure how I'd do against Abomasnow and the like.
I only have two ice moves to deal with Dragon types, and no priority; I'm considering a Mamoswine to set up Stealth Rock and get Ice priority plus STAB Earthquake to get a good shot against TTar, Ninetales, and to a lesser extent, Hippowdon. Ferrothorn can then run Thunder Wave or some other support move. I'd probably drop Dragonite in favor of Mamoswine if I decide to do so. Electric immunity would also be great to help Politoed and Starmie, but I would also lose Earthquake immunity. Donphan would function similarly with the Electric immunity, STAB Earthquake, and Ice priority. Donphan also gets better physical bulk, Sturdy, and Rapid Spin, but no Ice STAB, worse special bulk, and much slower.
Jirachi has also been giving me huge headaches as of late; my only super-effective move against it is Dragonite's Earthquake, which, with my spread, is pretty weak. Bronzong has the same typing plus Earthquake immunity, but it it can't do too much to me either. Gliscor has also been pretty troublesome, since it's rather difficult to revenge kill if it's behind a Substitute. Politoed is too slow and Starmie is too frail to take an Earthquake. I actually used to run Choice Scarf on Politoed and got plenty of surprise KOs, but dropped it in favor of Specs's massive power output.
Against non-weather teams, I usually lead Politoed to set up the rain, and then most likely switch to Dragonite or Ferrothorn, depending on the circumstances.
Conclusion
The main characters here are Starmie, Scizor, and Politoed. If any Pokemon are to be replaced, I would prefer them to be Dragonite, Ferrothorn, or Breloom. I think many will jump to say that having no spinner is my biggest issue. Maybe it is, but as of right now I only have 1 SR weakness and 2 resistances, plus 1 Spikes immunity. Let me know if I should drop a move on Starmie, or replace DNite with Donphan or something.
Last but not least, thanks for taking the time to read this, and let me know what you think!
Also let me know how fittingly I nicknamed my Pokemon after NBA players haha
Importable Pastebin:
http://pastebin.com/CE4maPJv
Hey y'all, this is kwan, and I wanted to know what you guys thought of my team and how it could be improved. As of this writing my record with this team has been 35-6, but it's tough to say how good of a measure that is since I don't really know how good my opponents are, and I've definitely gotten away with some lucky wins or bad decisions by opponents.
The team is a offensively-oriented rain team, with Starmie and Scizor being the primary forms of offense. Politoed is obviously there to set up rain. These 3 make up my core, and the other 3 have been shuffled around in the past, and for now I've settled with this.
The Team
Greg Popovich
Politoed @ Choice Specs
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Psychic
Pretty standard Specs Politoed. Specs Surf + rain deals surprisingly massive damage. Usually I'll lead with this guy just to set up rain, even if the enemy has other weathers e.g. Tyranitar, Ninetales, etc. Surf is really the only move I use. Ice beam is more of a desperation move against dragons when I'm out of options. HP Grass is meant for Jellicent and Gastrodon. Side comment: I frekin love leading with Poli when they have a Gastrodon, then use HP Grass off the bat since I find opponents like switching to Gastrodon, resulting in a OHKO and a huge pain out of my way. Psychic is also for Toxicroak expecting a Surf but instead also getting a 4x super-effective OHKO.
Kobe Bryant
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunder
- Psyshock
NO RAPID SPIN?? Yes, I know, blasphemous, but I've had a tough time giving up moveslots, so for now I'm running 4 offensive moves. Surf (or Hydro Pump, but I like reliability) is mandatory in rain, Ice Beam OHKOs Breloom and Salamence, Thunder 2HKOs Jellicent if I get an Analytic boost, and Psyshock really eases prediction. Example: Psyshock OHKOs Breloom also, but can still hurt Chansey, Gastrodon, Jellicent, or any Water Absorber on the switch. It'll also kill Dragonite's Multiscale and put him in OHKO range with Ice Beam. This is also all without Life Orb. I used to run Life Orb, but I decided I preferred Starmie's longevity more. Even without Life Orb, Starmie is pretty good at cleaning up weakened teams without priority. Usually, if the game is late enough, Starmie can clean up the entire team, unless someone like Jolteon or Sucker Punchers are still out there. I used to have Rapid Spin, but I've found taking a turn to spin away hazards often results in Starmie's death via Pursuit or something, whereas a Surf on the switch could result in a 2HKO and keep momentum without having to switch.
Kyrie Irving
Breloom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Low Sweep
- Mach Punch
- Spore
Standard hyper-offensive Breloom. EV Spread is pretty self-explanatory. Great revenge-killer, but also decent lead with Low Sweep to ease prediction and score a Speed reduction unless they switch in a Ghost type. This guy usually doesn't come in until late, but he's great for destroying Ferrothorn and any other Dark-types. Unfortunately, coverage is not so great, but Spore is always helpful. He also happens to be my only member with a Fighting-type move, though I feel Fighting has become less useful except against TTar. Definitely the most ephemeral Pokemon on my whole team; I don't think I've ever used him for more than 6 turns total.
LeBron James
Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Arguably the most dominant Pokemon in BW2 OU. Most people run a super-offensive Scizor with U-Turn to keep momentum and the escape from Magnezone. Here I chose to run a standard bulky set (see Smogon's "Bulky Swords Dance" set). Most often I find switching into a Salamence locked into Outrage, taking about 25% HP, then comfortably setting up SD + Roost. Even if Salamence decides to hit me with Fire Blast, Scizor can survive in the rain, and then 2HKO back with Bullet Punch. In essence, I find Scizor to be an equally useful defensive presence, and even though the coverage is not very good (e.g. huge Jellicent problems), Scizor forces so many switches that setting up SD becomes pretty easy, plus I can rack in some hazard damage.
Shaq
Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SAtk / 176 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Thunder
Finally, a non-standard set (I think). Timid nature + 0 Atk EVs means Dragonite will be a pretty mediocre physical attacker. However, considering my current team, I already have 3 physical attackers, so a specially based one would be useful in maintaining balance. The nature and Speed EVs are optimized to outrun 70 Base Speed with speed-boosting nature e.g. Jolly Breloom w/ Spore. The rest is dumped into SpA to hit hard from the Special side and HP to tank. As I currently have no way of getting rid of Stealth Rock, usually I'll switch in Dragonite if I see a potential Stealth Rock about to be set up. If rain is in effect, then Dragonite can hit pretty hard with STAB Hurricane and Thunder. Earthquake will also hit Ninetales for a 2HKO and Tyranitar for a 3HKO. Admittedly not very good; maybe I should take some HP EVs into Attack? One more perk of being a special attacker; almost everyone expects a physical Dragonite, so Forretress is a common switch-in, only to be OHKO'ed by Hurricane. This Dragonite also doesn't really mind burn too much either. Roost rounds out the tank fulfillment of this set and can restore Multiscale, though there is some synergy conflict with burn, Roost, and Multiscale :/
Tim Duncan
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
No surprises here. Huge tank, and has come up quite clutch for me. Standard entry hazards + 2 decent STAB offenses. SR really helps against Ninetales. Also useful for paralysis absorber, and about as good as Scizor in tanking Outrage-locked Salamence. No instant recover, but Iron Barbs has felled its fair share of dragons. EV and Nature taken directly from the Smogon set.
Some general comments
As you may have noticed, I have a massive amount of Fire weaknesses. Breloom, Scizor, and Ferrothorn add up to 5 type weaknesses. If I lose rain, I could be royally screwed. Setting up Stealth Rock against sun teams and keeping Politoed alive at least until the other weather inducer is gone is pretty important here. Dragonite can deal with Ninetales pretty easily, even in the sun, but Tyranitar and Hippowdon are a little tougher for me to deal with, since they usually switch out if I send in Breloom or Starmie, respectively. I have yet to test this team against Hail teams, since Hail teams are pretty rare and often underrated, so I'm not sure how I'd do against Abomasnow and the like.
I only have two ice moves to deal with Dragon types, and no priority; I'm considering a Mamoswine to set up Stealth Rock and get Ice priority plus STAB Earthquake to get a good shot against TTar, Ninetales, and to a lesser extent, Hippowdon. Ferrothorn can then run Thunder Wave or some other support move. I'd probably drop Dragonite in favor of Mamoswine if I decide to do so. Electric immunity would also be great to help Politoed and Starmie, but I would also lose Earthquake immunity. Donphan would function similarly with the Electric immunity, STAB Earthquake, and Ice priority. Donphan also gets better physical bulk, Sturdy, and Rapid Spin, but no Ice STAB, worse special bulk, and much slower.
Jirachi has also been giving me huge headaches as of late; my only super-effective move against it is Dragonite's Earthquake, which, with my spread, is pretty weak. Bronzong has the same typing plus Earthquake immunity, but it it can't do too much to me either. Gliscor has also been pretty troublesome, since it's rather difficult to revenge kill if it's behind a Substitute. Politoed is too slow and Starmie is too frail to take an Earthquake. I actually used to run Choice Scarf on Politoed and got plenty of surprise KOs, but dropped it in favor of Specs's massive power output.
Against non-weather teams, I usually lead Politoed to set up the rain, and then most likely switch to Dragonite or Ferrothorn, depending on the circumstances.
Conclusion
The main characters here are Starmie, Scizor, and Politoed. If any Pokemon are to be replaced, I would prefer them to be Dragonite, Ferrothorn, or Breloom. I think many will jump to say that having no spinner is my biggest issue. Maybe it is, but as of right now I only have 1 SR weakness and 2 resistances, plus 1 Spikes immunity. Let me know if I should drop a move on Starmie, or replace DNite with Donphan or something.
Last but not least, thanks for taking the time to read this, and let me know what you think!
Also let me know how fittingly I nicknamed my Pokemon after NBA players haha
Importable Pastebin:
http://pastebin.com/CE4maPJv
Last edited:
