(Standard) Close to Greatness!

[HardCore]

Introduction​

I mostly try to create balanced teams and this is another one I created. The main goal of the team is for me personally is being well balanced and hitting hard back. In this generation most of what I have been seeing is offensive teams or weather teams that can be either really offensive or defensive. I normally have trouble with well balanced teams and that is why I have created one of my own. There is not much to the whole balanced concept of my team but the results I normally get are me winning more than 70% of the time with either 4 or more pokemon left. I like the teams balance and how well it competes in the metagame. People have different concepts of different playing styles so for me a balanced team has a decent amount of bulk with hard hitting moves, set up strategies, a spinner, potential walls, and pokemon that use roar/whirlwind/dragontail, and other methods that show synergy throughout the team.
(Credit to Silent Storm for helping me with this team!)​

Landorus

Revenge Killer.

Randorosu (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]

This set is pretty standard for Landorus and it works with my team. It counters pretty much all fast threats that are listed in the OU list for 5th gen. Considering the team has sand on it of course that makes it more effective. For my team Landorus is mostly a Revenge Killer.

Skarmory

Defensive Entry Hazard Layer

Skarmory (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 20 SDef / 16 Spd (edited evs based on the rates by dkfoo and franky.)
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird



In my team Skarmory is definately there for laying spikes, whirlwinding, and just damaging a team slowly. This is a very standard set. This set works for my team so well because it is my defensive entry hazard layer. Skarmory being steel is great for the team because it takes all of the dragon moves from this gen very well. Because my team lacked a sturdy defensive pokemon I chose Skarmory which added more to the team by adding balance. When I use this team Skarmory definately sees play most of the time as his defensive role in the team.

Tyranitar

Mixed Tyranitar
(This team needs sand)
Tyranitar (F) @ Chople Berry (Changed thanks to Franky's rate)
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 160 HP / 92 Def / 36 SAtk / 220 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam

For this team Tyranitar plays the sand starting role and special defensive hard hitter. I like Tyranitar's bulk and how well he can take hits but just to give him more power I added expert belt so those extra few evs people put on stats won't interfer with a KO. Tyranitar also adds another entry hazard to the team, which is Stealth Rock. This Tyranitar doesn't have anyway to heal which I don't like but the battle hardly ever relies on him. As long as I play well and spin hazards away he should be able to take a few special moves that are not super effective and kill some pokemon that it can handle a hit from. Since I have entry hazards in the team Tyranitar doesn't need a lot of evs in Spatk or Atk especially with expert belt. Tyranitar adds to the bulk, the balance of the team, and she puts up sand which is extremely good for the team. > Although I wouldn't really call it an average sand spamming team.

Milotic

Bulky Water Type

Milotic (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Marvel Scale
EVs: 208 HP / 96 Def / 204 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Boil Over
- Dragon Tail

For this team Milotic is my bulky water type. It is probably one of my most favorite pokemon in the team, but in saying that I must also state that it is very good not just a favorite. Its purpose is to block most water types and take sleep moves if it can. It also uses drgaon tail and lets me abuse the entry hazards I have up which should at least be one spike and stealth rocks. Milotic's bulkiness is great with boil over it burns pokemon most of the time too. Of course this set is physically defensive too because of marvel scale. So I basically do what anyone would. I wait until the hp is low and go for the move rest. (low as in around 40% or below depending on the opponents team) This Milotic has proved to be very good against most peoples teams. It also seems to be rather annoying to some even if it doesn't get the burn.

Salamence

MixMence

Salamence (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 12 Atk / 28 Def / 216 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Roost
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake/ Brick Break (I am testing this out thanks to franky's post.)
- Fire Blast

On this team I am running a MixMence which is purely offensive with roost. This is mostly special and works with the team rather well. I like how hard it hits and how it ohkos things that are not super effected by his moves. Even though it dies pretty fast if there are rocks sand and LO in play I have a chance to spin away rock with Dory and It kills at least two pokemon or more before dying. Mence is great to have back and I am definately testing different sets. Before this one I had a bulky one with the same milotic on another team. For this team Mence is simply a standard Mix Mence.

Finally that brings me to the last pokemon of this team, which is DORY! or Excadrill!

Excadrill

Offensive Spinner

Doryuuzu (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Throw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
- Rock Slide

This pokemon is rather annoying to most people but I kind of took a more defensive approach with the whole balanced team idea in mind. In this team Excadrill is my spinner and he has the capability of sweeping. I know you may ask why would I give it Leftovers but I wanted to give it some way of healing because this balanced team lacks a healer and relies on the pokemon's own moves to keep it alive. Excadrill is there for speed power and spinning which I really like especially on this team since I can send it right out on pokemon like Skarmory and Fortress to spin without fear of my balloon being broken which I hated so I added leftovers! I don't often sweep with this pokemon but it definately is great in sand and goes along with the flow of the team.

Please give really good rates and ideas that are balanced that can move this team on to greatness. It is very good I would give it about an 8.5 out of 10 because it has won me a lot of battles against randoms, known battlers, and friends that I play against. (This is my first detailed RMT so please leave suggestions because I plan to have more!)

 

[Dezza Laa]

Hi,

Give Skarm Sturdy (obviously a mistake) and some more physical bulk. Skarms need to hold its own against physical powerhouses and Milotic can take Special like a bitch.

MixMence doesn't really need Roost, seeing as how it lacks the bulk to even take a hit. I suggest either changing it for Outrage or switch it to a BulkyMence.

Just letting you know Rapid Spin means that Dory loses a lot more coverage. I really don't see who really greatly benefits from it besides maybe Salamence who has Roost anyway.

 

[HardCore]

Thanks the whole sturdy thing was a mistake. I was thinking about adding more def too.

Yeah the Mence didn't seem to fit that well I have to see what set I can use instead of it. I like the coverage I get from mixed though so I might go with a bulk DD or something.

Dory doesn't get as much coverage which is a small loss but I take hits from what he doesn't kill rather well. Rapid spin is because I don't have wish support and I would prefer to get rid of stealth rocks for landorus and pretty much all entry hazards for tyranitar and Milotic too (because if milotic isn't sleeping it won't take as many hits very well).

Dory doesn't hold the team back too much, but I will definately edit the Mence and Skarm thanks for your rate!

 

[franky]

Hi hardcore,

looking at how your team functions, i think you'll need a ghost-type perfectly to combat with rapid spinners such as forretress, starmie, and the rare RS doryzu variant. a simple patch up is to swap milotic for physical defensive jellicent. this not only adds a spin blocker, but it adds a sd balloon terrakion back-up check with the proper prediction. you should try a simple 240 hp / 252 def / 16 spe with a nature of bold and the movesets taunt / shadow ball / boil over / recover. this is your standard jellicent with 16 spe to out-taunt opposing jellicent since opposing specially defensive jellicent could be problematic with the lack of pursuit on tyranitar.

i see no need for expert belt on tyranitar, just go for a simple chople berry over it! you'll find the need to no longer play with switches to get it to tbolt your dory or landlos when faced against an lo thundurus. dump those defense evs to special attack to actually damage enemy lo thundurus specifically. another patch up is to simply try out 16 spe on skarmory - extract it from special defense or hp; this will allow you to out whirlwind enemy skarmory who tend to run 4 sp only. 16 sp ensures you speed creep by several points. skarmory seems to be a big bitch to your team and you never let it set up easily so these speed evs are very important.

as for other options, balloon over leftovers on dory! yes give it another immunity because leftovers isnt really that needed. assuming rapid spins turns out not to be a necessity the entire match, you might pull off a sweep with dory so this is where balloon comes in handy. lastly, salamence can use brick break over earthquake because youll be able to hit tyranitar and blissey harder - just a footnote. the only important pokemon off the top of my dome that earthquake misses out on is heatran, but it isn't really problematic with your team structure. overall gl! lo mix mence with sr and spikes is an absolute menace

 

[HardCore]

Wow you have given me a lot to think about I will have to test a few changes although I hate that water ghost every set I use fails therefore I don't bother to use it anymore.
I mostly don't like it because it is pretty slow and very weak the only great think about it is that it inflicts statuses and recovers although when I figure it is bulky enough to live a move that is not super effective and it does more than I expect it discourages me.
Maybe I will just have to continue to adjust to 5th gen, but so far this team is better than all of my other teams. Some of which hit in the 1300s and 1400s on different servers and even high on smogon.

I almost dropped the mence but you're right about how well it cleans up. Missing out on hitting tran is just about it you're right. I will run the exact move set you named for Mence since milotic can block heatran and landorus and Dory can move in for the kill.

Even if I don't use the rapid spin for my whole team it is still worth it in my opinion for the balance of not being KOed by priority moves after a series of switch ins with Landorus, Salamence, and even milotic if I find it hard to get off the rest. I am sure many would agree with me that on a team like that after a little wearing out is done then having two sweepers with most of their hp left and no statuses is important. In my battles with the team I have found that having them with more that 70% health is perfect for me to get in a comfortable position to sweep.

Thanks for the tips about skarm also I didn't think too much about speed. I can see how this will really help. the small amount of sp def I have on it isn't reall worth keeping as long as I predict properly. Thank you.

 

[Moo]

Team looks good, but I think Ferrothorn gives it a bit of trouble. Mence doesnt want to switch in on a Thunder Wave, and Tar can't switch in on power whip.#

Maybe consider Hammer Arm on Landlos?

Good team though :)

 

[HardCore]

Team looks good, but I think Ferrothorn gives it a bit of trouble. Mence doesnt want to switch in on a Thunder Wave, and Tar can't switch in on power whip.#

Maybe consider Hammer Arm on Landlos?

Good team though :)

For Nattorei or Ferrothorn you're right it is a tad bit annoying but I would send Skarm out to whirlwind it then later rapid spin. It would cause some trouble but I would hope mostly to work around it as fast as possible. I have two fireblast users on the team hopefully I can take out nattorei with one of them but to a certain extent Nattorei would be very annoying. Thanks I didn't see that weakness right away which is a fault of mine for not thinking of a way to handle a major defensive OU threat that is also offensive.

 

[Lamppost]

Hey, nice team. Balanced teams were really my specialty in the 4th gen, and i haven't seen an awful lot of them in gen 5, so it's nice to see one for a change instead of all the hyper offense RMT's. I don't really have a lot of major changes, but a few nitpicks.

Anyways, like franky said burungeru/jellicent would really benefit your team since it really does work around entry hazards. It can also absorb latios' surfs.

On your tyranitar i would opt for pursuit over crunch or ice beam. Latios can really do some damage to this team, it can pretty much 2hko everyone on your team. Instead of letting this happen, you can just sacrifice one of your pokemon, come in on the switch, and pursuit it. You are going to want to run atleast 120atk ev's on ttar to ensure a KO with sandstorm. It 2hko's if latios happens to stay in, but it wont be doing much to you since ttar is bulky.

Can't think of much else, good team, and good luck.

 

[HardCore]

Thank you. I was definately considering pursuit but back when I had expert belt on the tyranitar I pushed for crunch but now I will definately use pursuit instead because I have chople now. Latios doesn't threaten my team as much as latias imo just because Latios has less defense and is easier to predict. As far as Latias is concerned I would say it is slightly harder to deal with the bulky ones although I still say my team is pretty prepared for it.

Thanks for the rate!